Judgement Skull
by settlechaos
Summary: What starts as a hyperviolent parody of the nineties comics evolved into an emotional drama as the different aspects of The Punisher. From his obsession with justice and violence to how out of place he is in the Marvel universe with powered heroes and villians to his history with PTSD and even exploring his gender.
1. Chapter 1

Warning this is a fictional story that is only meant to entertain. Readers are advised to never attempt any of the activities depicted. Readers could potentially injure or kill others or themselves. Seriously do not attempt at home. Enjoy!

It's 3:10pm and little Billy was walking home from school through the dark and dangerous streets of New York City. Normally he would take the bus home, but the school's bully Big Bobby stole his bus pass and flushed it down the toilet. With no cell phone or enough money to pay for public transportation ten-year-old Billy had to walk the scum covered streets of Manhattan alone with nothing to protect him. As he walked past liquor stores and strip clubs he shared the same streets with prostitutes and the homeless. A large bearded man staggered down the sidewalk not looking where he was going and bumped into Billy almost knocking him off balance.

"Damn it kid, what do you think you're doing? Trying to get yourself killed?" Shouted the bearded man.

Saying nothing, Billy kept walking while clenching the straps of his backpack tight. On any other day, he would be riding on the bus looking at these streets thinking nothing of the of the dangers that lurked. Now he felt that every step could be his last. Trembling all over with his legs feeling weak, he didn't dare stop to rest. He knew his mother was worried waiting at home and he wanted to get home before his angry drunk father did.

"Hey kid want to have some fun?" Said a voice coming from the alley way. Out stepped a tall lanky man with a mullet, an uneven goatee, and two eyes that looked in opposite directions.

"My Mom told me not to talk to strangers." Billy slowly took a step back, hoping for the man to give him an opportunity to run away.

"Well your mom sounds boring. I bet she never lets you eat any candy either, huh? Now if you want to have some fun then I'm your real mommy." Out from his jacket pocket the man took out a large plastic grocery bag full pills, bags of white powder, syringes, and mushrooms.

"Mama fun has some real treats for you like crack, peyote, and silly blood. This candy will make Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse come to life and be your best friend." He reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of pills and held the out offering them to little Billy.

"No, no! mister I don't want any candy." Feeling terrified, he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but he couldn't bring himself to do so.

"Come on kid, you'll have so much fun that you'll never-"before he could finish his sentence his chest exploded in a spray of blood and guts as several bullets struck him. Everyone on the streets ran off and hid in the nearest buildings. Standing still not moving, Billy did not know what to do as he looked down at the ground where the bloody body of the drug dealer laid. This was enough to make him finally scream louder than ever before.

"Settle down kid, you're safe now." Slowly turning around, Billy saw a large man behind him holding two smoking pistols. He had large bulging muscles, black slick back hair, and a black shirt with skull on it.

"You better run home little boy, before things get messy. For I'm about to deal a whole mess of Punishment on these scum covered streets!"

Billy didn't need to be told twice before he took off running down the streets.

The Punisher bent down and picked up the self-proclaimed Mama Fun. Holding him close to his face, he spoke to him, "I know you're still alive. I purposely missed all of your vital organs even though I shot you in the chest and head. I am keeping you alive so that I could interrogate you and kill you afterwards."

Coughing up blood Momma Fun came back to life. Struggling to breath he tried to remain conscious.

Pressing one of his guns to the forehead of the dealer, The Punisher proceeded to ask him questions. "Who is your supplier? Where are they?"

Unable to think straight Momma Fun felt himself slip closer to death, but he was able to find the strength to answer, "Go down the street turn left. The crack house is the third house down on the right."

Pulling the trigger, the Punisher splattered the dealer's brains all over the side walk, "Thanks."

Inside of the crack house two dealers sat on the couch with a large pile of pills on the coffee table in front of them. One used a razor to separate the pills from the large pile into smaller piles to bag up. The other took the bags and set then on a scale to make sure each bag weighed five grams. They were momentary distracted as they heard a knock coming from the door.

"Hey Daniel, answer the damn door!" one of them yelled.

"You get the damn door!" Daniel yelled back from the kitchen.

"We're too busy bagging drugs. It's you job to answer the damn door."

Daniel walked out of the kitchen half dressed with burn scars and needle marks up and down his arms. After attaching the chain to the door, he opening it to find The Punisher on the other side.

"Who is it?" He asked.

The door exploded into splinters as bullets burst forth tearing apart his lungs and heart.

"Your demise." Kicking the door open, The Punisher stepped over his new victim.

The two dealers shook and trembled, scared out of their minds as The Punisher walked over to them and asked, "Now who wants to get to know me better?"

It took some searching, but after walking through the warehouse district down by docks for thirty minutes, African-American college student Maylene Lumpkin finally found the right place. She was majoring in Law and criminal justice at Manhattan University hoping to someday become a district attorney. A week ago, an overweight balding man approached her offering her an internship. He didn't tell her what kind of work it entailed or even exactly where it was at. He just promised that it would cover all of her credits, give her real work experience that would not be found anywhere else, and high level job as soon as she graduated. It was an offer that she could not refuse, but she still felt uneasy. She was discouraged by how secretive the man was. He didn't tell her the exact location, just that it was in a warehouse by the docks and that he would turn off security so that she would not be hurt. The only way that she knew that she would find the right place was that the door would have a skull painted above it.

Not knowing what to expect next she knocked on the door and was promptly welcomed in by man that she spoke to last week.

"Maylene come on in, the big guy hasn't arrived yet, but that will give me time to show you around first."

"Um, I'm sorry, what exactly do you do here?" She looked around the room that appeared to have been a reception office. There was one desk with two high-tech modified computers on it and several empty oven pizza boxes. Behind the desk was another door which she assumed led to the rest of the warehouse. "This doesn't look like any law office I've seen before."

"Oh, where are my manners? I guess I don't have to be so secretive now. Hold on, give me a minute," He quickly walked over to his computer and typed something, then walked back over to her. "We should be safe to talk now. My name is David Linus, but please call me Microchip."

"Microchip? Is this some sort of cyber security firm?"

"No, not at all. Let me ask you, what are your views on vigilante justice?"

"Well the law can be inadequate at times and people do have a right to defend their selves, but it's against the law for a reason. Not everyone has clear view of justice and when they are motivated by hatred and revenge, innocent lives-"

"Stop right there, that will be enough. However, do you think that America's current justice system is adequate today?

Maylene felt nervous, these questions caused her stomach to turn to knots, but she didn't refuse to answer. "Yes, crime is at an all-time low and on average across America and the amount of wrongful imprisonment has decreased."

"So you are satisfied with work that our state's police force is handling criminal investigations?"

"Yes, they have excelled-"

"What about in the case of you little brother?" Microchip sat back down at his desk with his elbows on it and his hands clasped together. Trying hard to maintain her breathing and stay calm Maylene started glancing at the door.

"He has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, he has everything to do with this. Do you want to sit down?" He gestured to a chair in front of his desk.

"No, I think I'll leave." Trying not to show any emotion she turned around and reach for the door knob, but was stopped.

"Hold on, if you touch that door knob one hundred thousand volts of electricity will shock you." Microchip rubbed his chin. "I should have broached the subject more gently. Please sit down."

"Are you threatening me? You can't do this to me."

"I don't mean you any harm. Please, just sit down and let me explain."

As she sat down the chair creaked and the legs were uneven.

"Listen I sympathize with you. What happened to your little brother was horrible."

"Whatever this internship is, I don't want it anymore. Please let me leave." Maylene shifted in her chair.

"I can't let you do that. You don't even know what this internship is," Microchip turned on a coffee machine on his desk and poured in some water from bottle. "We don't have to talk about what happened to your brother, but tell me how long was it until the police discovered the suspects?"

This was the final straw for Maylene. Kicking her chair back she stood up and slammed her hands onto the desk. Maintain his demeanor, Microchip didn't acknowledge her outburst.

"He was molested, damn it! Okay, they got away with it for years. My family and I thought that they were just teachers tutoring him, but instead they were raping him and beating him. For five years we just thought he kept quiet and hardly ever went outside. We had no way of telling there was something wrong. Then when the police came to our door and explained it all to us. What they did to him and few other students. We couldn't believe it was real. After two years of trials those scumbags where let free. I promised my brother that I would do everything in my ability to protect him, but I couldn't after he took his own life!"

As tears streamed out of her eyes, she grabbed her chair and sat back down. For two minutes, she buried head into her hands sobbed. Microchip showed no sympathy as he poured two cups of coffee, one for himself, the other for Maylene.

"What happened after that?" He offered her the cup of coffee.

"What are you talking about?" She took the coffee, but didn't take a sip. She was too shaken to drink.

"You know what I'm talking about. What happened to the teachers?"

"They were killed by…" realizing what was going on she looked up and felt the knots in her stomach come undone, but she was not relieved. "It all makes sense now, the secretiveness, the skull on the door, and all the questions. You work for him don't you. The Punisher. You want me to intern for a murderer."

"Well I wouldn't put it that way, but yes."

"You picked me, because of my brother, didn't you? Because I witnessed the justice system fail. So, what just because I lost my brother to some bad men you think that I would want to take the law into my own hands and go after other criminal organizations. Well I have news for you I study Criminal Justice for reasons other than revenge."

Microchip smiled walked over to a door behind the desk.

"Good, let me show you the rest of the place." He led her to the larger part of warehouse. There was still some remnants of when it was used for storage for a business, like large shelves and a forklift, but now it resembled more of military base. The was a target range, a small gym, an armory locked behind a chain link cage, and small cot with a bulletin board nearby. Microchip drew her attention to the bulletin board which had photos pinned on it. These were photos of murderers, leaders criminal organizations, and America's most wanted.

"He used to be like you once. He too trusted in justice system, but that all changed a long time ago."

"Yeah, I read the profile the Daily Bugle ran on him. He decided to become a vigilantly after his family was killed in a mob shooting," replied Maylene.

"That is true. The death of his family lead to him taking out New York's major crime families, but I believe that the motivation came from the injustices that he witnessed in Vietnam."

"Vietnam?" She was very confused by this new information. "But he doesn't look like he's more than forty in the photos I've seen of him."

"You'll be surprised what dying and coming back to life a few times does to your skin," a booming voice said from behind Maylene. She felt paralyzed, but managed to slowly turned around and stood face to face with a large man wearing a skull t-shirt and large backpack on his back

Microchip introduced the man. "Maylene, I would like you to meet Frank Castle."

"The Punisher," the name slipped out of her mouth.

"Micro, are you bring home strays now? You know how I feel about outsiders," He glared at his friend.

"I hired her as an intern. I figured we could use some help with tracking targets and she can help you with cleaning and maintain the guns." Microchip pleaded with Punisher as he walked over to the armory. He dropped the backpack on the ground with a thunk.

"Whoa, I haven't agreed to anything yet," she started to feel a bit panicky wondering what she has gotten herself into.

"Have you found anyplace better to intern yet?" asked Microchip.

"No, but you can't expect me to do this. It's illegal, I'ld be aiding a known criminal."

"What are you going to learn at any law office?" stepped to her to be only a few inches away and looked down upon her. "An internship isn't real on the job training or anything. It's just getting coffee and filing papers. A big fucking waste of time. Here you will actually make a different and learn what justice really means. Change never starts behind a desk or in an office. Real change happens on the streets face to face with the criminals that are bring down your justice system. Now tell me, do you want to make a change or do you want continue with your pitiful existence?"

Maylene felt like she was backed up into a corner. She was frightened, but her mind was filled with uncertainty. She agreed with the things that Microchip was saying, but she knew that assisting these men was illegal and if caught it would mean life in prison.

"Well, will you help us or not?" Microchip was growing impatient.

"Do I actually have a choice?"

"You always have a choice, but make sure that you're making the right one."

With a deep sigh Maylene answered him. "Okay, I'll do it."

"Good your room will behind the armory."

"What? I have dorm room on campus." Again she wondered what she was doing.

"I know, that will be paid for. I you can visit from time to time so that you can keep up appearances of a normal college student, but I'm going to need you to spend all of you free time here. You can just tell your dormmate that you have a boyfriend of something."

"Yeah, but—"

"Are you done with introductions yet?" The Punisher interrupted. "I need you set up the interrogation room."

He unzipped the backpack and an unconscious body fell out.

It wasn't enough to tie him to a chair, draping a bloody apron on him, and strapping his head tight so he couldn't move it, but The Punisher also decided to go all out with surgical equipment, large butcher knives, OxyContin, gummy worms, and gray food coloring.

"Wakey, wakey," The Punisher slapped his new prisoner on the cheek with a butcher knife.

Feeling very groggy with a very painful splitting head ache he slowly noticed the ropes across his body and the apron covering the lower half of his body. What bothered him the most was his inability to turn his head and see what was going on. "What… ack, where am I?"

"Thomas? I'm going to assume that is your name," he could hear The Punisher behind him. "That's the name on your ID, but it looks fake."

"I can't, I can't…" Freighted and confused Thomas was unable to form a sentence.

"Did you ever study Anatomy in high school," The Punisher leaned in front of Thomas with a surgical mask covering his mouth. "Again I'm assuming that you went to high school. Well fun fact, even though the brain detects pain across the body there are no pain receptors in it."

He couldn't tell if he was smiling with the mask covering his mouth, but there appeared to be a smile with how the mask stretched with his cheeks poking out.

"What are you doing?" Thomas got no answers, The Punisher just disappeared from his view and he heard the clatter of steel medical instruments.

"The internet is an interesting place. You can learn how to do anything on it. How to cook methamphetamine, build a dirty bomb, and even how to preform brain surgery."

"Please, what do you want?" His heart rate increased as he began to panic.

"What's this I hear about a new drug? Silly Blood is it?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"You know about your motor cortex, right? It's part of your brain located in rear portion of your frontal lube. It's what controls your leg movement," The Punisher said as he loudly cut into the gummy worms slicing them into pieces, before he silently dipped them into the gray food coloring.

"Stop! What are you doing to me?"

The Punisher shoved a spoon into his face. He fought to keep his mouth shut, but the spoon slipped between his lips and he felt the slimy chewy bits in his mouth. It made him gag and he spat it back out.

"Try moving your big toe. Can you do that? Wiggle your big toe for me."

He tried to move his legs, but the entire lower half of his body felt numb. He felt no movement or pain below his legs, "Stop! Stop it, Silly Blood, it's a new drug that causes vivid hallucinations. It makes addicts see shit like cartoon characters and please, please stop!"

"Where do they make it?"

"I'm not sure. An abandon warehouse somewhere."

"Have you ever heard about the Hippocampus? It is what stores you short term memories. Like what did you eat last night. What was the last conversation you had with your friends."

The sounds of knife slices became louder as he cut more pieces of gummy worms.

"Please, please, stop, that is all I know. Try the industrial part of town. They just bring it to me to sell. I never see where is made, man. Please stop chopping up my brain!" Tears streamed from his eyes and sweat poured from his forehead.

"That will be enough," The Punisher released the strap around Thomas' head and threw the bag of remaining gummy worms in his face.

It didn't take long for him to put two and two together. "What the fuck? Was this a joke all along? Just fucking candy?"

Taking off the surgical mask The Punisher gave him a cold hard stare. "I did what I had to, to make you talk."

"Wait, hold on I still can't feel my legs. What did you do to my legs?" Thomas began to panic again.

With a swift grab The Punisher remove the apron to reveal the bloody stumps where Thomas' legs once were.

"You chop off my fucking legs! Why did you do that? Fuck, you didn't have to do that! Why? Fuck, fuck, FUCK!

As she was taking guns out of The Punisher's backpack and placing them back in their proper places in the armory Maylene heard loud screams coming from the interrogation room.

Franticly she turned to Microchip and said, "My God, is he killing that guy in there?"

"Yeah, probably," he shrugged it off. "How are you with a mop?"

"A mop? When I agreed to this you promised me that I would get an education that I wouldn't find anywhere else. What am I supposed to learn from mopping?"

"That justice is messy."

The screams suddenly stopped and soon after The Punisher walked in. He turned to Microchip and said, "I'm going for a walk. I won't be back until late tonight."

"I'll leave diner in the refrigerator," replied Microchip.

Without acknowledging her, The Punisher walked past Maylene into the Armory. He grabbed couple of submachine guns, a lot of ammo, and two fist-fulls of knives.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Maylene.

"Like I said, I'm going for a walk," said The Punisher.

"Why? What are you going to do?"

"Play that Poke Mon Go. I hear that a Charmander was spotted in the park nearby."

"Yeah, nice joke. If you're catching Poke Mons then why would you need all of the guns."

"Them millennials are vicious," he walked past her and out the building. Maylene was left feeling humiliated. Microchip approached her with a mop, bucket, and a large black plastic bag.

"Here you go, get to work," he held out the tools to her. "If you wait too long the blood will soak in and leave a bad stain in the concrete and tell me when you're done so that I can dispose of the body."

A candy factory being used as a drug factory seemed too obvious, but it sure did appear that way. Hiding in plain sight maybe an effective strategy when no one is paying attention, but not when a trained eye notices that the factory has been receiving shipments of hundreds pounds of illegal substances several times a day. After finding the place The Punisher took a few hours to stake out the place. He thought that it could be a trap for Police officers, the D.E.A., or himself. It wasn't long until he saw a truck load of substances, chemicals, and other ingredients used for making drugs that it was more than any sane drug cartel would risk too lose. These guys must have been very stupid or cocky to establish a factory such as this. They however didn't spare any consideration on security.

There was no way that he was going to make a stealth entrance with four snipers posted around the place. It was a fortress with a thick blast resistant brick wall all around. The only way in was a gate with explosives set to go off if anyone tapered with it in anyway. The only way to shut down this factory was to do it loud and that is exactly how The Punisher likes it.

With four well trained shots he took out the snipers each with one shot between the eyes. Then with a bazooka from a mile away he blew apart the gate causing the other explosives to go off with an explosion big enough to be seen across town.

The loud boom was more than enough to startle everyone inside the factory. Some were cooking and packaging drugs and guards were holding guns making sure they were continuing their work, but at this moment they forgot what their jobs where. They were all prepared for such an invent, but none of them expected it to actually happen. They dropped what they were doing a stood frozen for a moment not knowing what to do, then a high-pitched voice spoke over the loud speaker, "We are under attack! This could be cops, some cape wearing dork, or Godzilla. Whatever is going on, everyone grab a weapon and kill whatever comes through the gate!"

Some had guns, others guarded themselves with chairs, bars, and knives. Several guards with guns ran out to the front. Armed with assault rifles, pistols, and shot guns they aimed at the inferno at the front gate. They waited for a moment, then with a loud roar a black armored van plowed through the flames. A barrage of bullets pelted the van. The guards quickly unloaded their weapons at it, but not one pierced it's armored hide as it drove around the building to the loading bay and stopped. One guard came out with a grenade launcher that would be enough to break through any armor plating, but before he could pull the trigger a large plume of white smoke dispensed from under the van. The smoke enveloped the guards causing them chough, vomit, and loss conscious.

Once the coast was clear The Punisher exited the van from the back fully armed with a gas mask on. He did for a moment consider taking out the guards that were out, but it would be a waste of bullets. The gas did the work for him.

With a big bang He made his entrance into the factory into a storage room. He shot up every guard that raise a gun at him, some were dead before they could even aim. None fired a shot, but there was not a pause of gun shots coming from The Punisher for at least sixty minutes. He took cover behind a forklift as he reloaded his guns. At this moment room was still, no one was alive in there, but The Punisher. It was silent, but that peacefulness was interrupted by the loud speaker, "Everyone kill that fucker! It's one man, he can't stop all of you! The first one kill him will get all the drugs they want, One hundred thousand dollars, and big fat kiss on the mouth from me. Now get to gutting!"

She had to see him in action. As soon as Maylene was alone she snuck out the back the of the warehouse to follow The Punisher. He wasn't easy to follow. As soon as they entered the industrial district he seemed to have vanished, but after hours of waiting finally she saw explosions and heard gun fire, it was easy to tell when he was at that moment.

She drove her sedan up to the gate that was engulfed with flames and used a tire iron to break open the release nut on a nearby fire hydrant. She didn't have a hose, but she didn't need one. It was close enough to the gate that when the fountain of water sprayed all over the entrance it was enough to extinguish the fire.

She proceeded with caution, but saw no one conscious or alive outside. The knock out gas had already evaporated into the air and all the guards where still lying passed out on the ground. She grabbed a pistol off one the bodies for protection. She never fired a real gun before and hoped that she would never have to. Afraid of being killed she decided not to enter the building, but to instead only watch from the windows. From there she could see all of the men inside leaving their work areas and running to the back of the building where all of the gun fire could be heard coming from and where she was sure that she would find The Punisher.

From behind the large roll up door dividing the storage room and the rest of the factory, The Punisher could hear men gather. He knew that they would outnumber and out gun him. Also, that if he waited around for them to attack first, then he will surely end up dead. He needed a plan and fast.

With a loud creaking noise the door slowly began to move up. Time was up The Punisher needed to act fast. Lucky for him the keys to the fork lift were in the ignition. After starting it up, he raised the fork up his eye leave. It blocked his view, but it also provided a bit protection for his face and would decapitate anyone who came too close. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a machine gun he plowed into the halfway raised door. Many of the guards scattered as the door broke apart causing several large pieces of metal to fall onto the guards and the fork lift. However the fork lift was strong enough to move through the broken door with no problem.

Several of the guards hid behind boxes and steel tables and fired their guns at The Punisher. With his line of sight blocked and one hand on the steering wheel he could not do better than shoot wildly at them. Once they ducked down, he grabbed a grenade off of his belt and threw it at them blowing them to smithereens.

The fork lift was a good sturdy machine, but with all of the bullets hitting it, it was not going to last much longer. Smoke started to seep out of the engine and the wheels moved slower. With the fork lift almost useless The Punisher abandoned it, ran, and hid behind some large metal shelves. Now that he was no longer preoccupied with driving, it was easier for him to aim his gun and kill more guards and factory workers, but he was running low on bullets.

"You losers are pathetic!" Yelled the loud speaker. "He's one man. Get you heads out of you asses and kill him already!"

The guards and factory workers were getting more desperate, moving closer and shooting more wildly. The Punisher didn't mind, it only made them more easy targets for him, but with a clicking noise he was out of bullets.

Watching from outside the window, Maylene saw him pull the trigger and for the first time not kill someone. She was afraid and wanted to help him, but didn't know what to do. She stood there paralyzed in fear, but little did she know that he didn't need her help.

"Shit, I'm out of ammo," The Punisher dropped his guns and dug his hands into his pouches. "It's a good thing I have all of these knives."

Out he pull two fist full of knives and yelled loudly, "It's Punishment!"

At this moment, there was fifteen men left in the factory and The Punisher was about to kill them all in fifteen seconds. It was a bloodbath, The Punisher called upon all of the hatred that he had been keeping on reserve and channeled it into energy like a shot of adrenaline. He saw everything in slow motion and could anticipate every movement of the men before it was made.

The closest guard and first victim was carrying a M-16 machine gun, had two-hundred fifty pounds of muscle, and only ten percent body fat, but none of that was enough protection as The Punisher swiftly ran head first at him and sliced his belly open causing his guts to fall out on the ground. As he fell onto his knees, The Punisher turned the knife upward and sliced his head open from chin to forehead.

Second was standing behind a metal table firing two pistols. Running at him with no hesitation, The Punisher ducked down out the line of fire. Then when he reached the table he shot up and stuck a knife into the bottom of his chin with the tip of the blade piercing his tongue and touching the roof of his mouth. In agonizing pain, he dropped his gun and felt like screaming, but his mouth was paralyzed. The Punisher grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the metal table sending the blade though his brain.

Third was also behind the table and already begging for mercy, but The Punisher shows no mercy. So he took two knives and stuck them into either side of his neck and twisted them around causing his head to pop off like cork out of champagne bottle with fountain of blood spraying out.

Four through Eight where all firing machine guns, but where too far away to run too. So, The Punisher threw a knife at one of the guard's hands was holding the gun, causing his hand to tense up squeezing the trigger uncontrollably. As he twisted his body in pain he shot out four of his friends, before The Punisher took him out with another knife thrown between his eyes.

Ninth was smart and hid behind a shelf for cover, but across from him was fire extinguisher mounted on a wall. The Punisher threw a knife at it causing the extinguisher to erupt spraying retardant at the guard. He covered his face and hunched over leaving himself open for The Punisher to come up behind him and stab him with three knives along his spinal column. Then he grabbed him by the front of his head and slammed him back first into the wall.

Tenth was ballsy and came charging at The Punisher with a knife. He grabbed him by his knife carrying arm with one hand on his wrist and the other on his elbow. He lifted his elbow up and pressed down on his wrist breaking it and causing a bone to splinter and poke out of his arm. The Punisher pulled out the bone splinter and stuck it into his eye.

He took the eleventh by his scalp and bent him backwards. With a knife in hand he stabbed him twenty times in the belly causing his intestates to burst out of his belly like streamers from a party popper.

Twelfth was firing two submachine guns screaming like Rambo as he shot at The Punisher as he took cover behind a concrete pillar. Even after he unloaded both of his clips he continued to scream. The Punisher shoved a knife into his big mouth, made him swallow it, and then rapidly punched him three dozen times in the belly causing the blade to tear apart his insides.

Thirteenth was running for the door when The Punisher threw a knife into his back right between the shoulder blades. He fell forward onto the wall. He was still as The Punisher threw for more knives pinning his hands and feet to the wall. Then he walked and grabbed the knife in his back and pulled in down slicing all the way through his back and down his butt crack emptying his bowels onto the ground.

The Punisher picked up the fourteenth and slammed him on his back onto a metal table. Then like a surgeon he sliced a Y on his chest and peeled back the skin to expose his rib cage. With twelve well trained stabs he broke each of his ribs and took them out exposing his still beating heart. The Punisher reached in and pulled out to show it to him before he sliced off each of the arteries attached to the heart. Then he threw it on the ground and stomped on it three times.

Dropping the knives on the ground The Punisher took a deep breath regaining his calm. He slowly took in a few more breaths and slowed his heart rate down. He was about to congratulate himself on a job well down, but wait he missed one.

Fifteen crept up behind him, slapped a palm full of pills over his mouth, and forced him to swallow them. "Let's see you kill me now with fifty doses of silly blood pumping through your veins! HAHAHAHA!"

Reaching behind himself The Punisher grabbed the guard's head pressed his thumbs into his eyes. The guard let out a blood curdling scream. He continued to press and squeeze until blood poured out every hole in his head.

Whatever was in the pills began to take effect. He felt queasy like he was about to vomit. His head was spinning and everything became blurry. Slowly he regain focus, but he could not believe what he was seeing. The cartoon characters from his childhood had come to life. The beloved animated animals that he used to watch on the television were each holding weapons and ready to attack him. Daffy Duck held two machetes ready to chop. Betty Boop had revolver cocked and loaded. Goofy held a lead pipe ready to swing like a baseball bat. Scooby Doo Stood on his hind legs and held a tommy gun in his paws.

"No, no this can't be real. Why is this happening?" Staggered backwards holding his head The Punisher could not escape the hallucinations as they closed in on him.

"Oh, it's real alright, bozoo," Daffy Duck swung the machetes in a threatening manner. "It's vigilante season."

Picking up a machine gun off a dead guard, The Punisher used it to defend himself. He unloaded several shots at the cartoon characters, but the bullets flew right through them. Terror swept over him as he realized that he could no longer trust his own eyes. After dozens of years of torturing and killing mobsters, murders, and warlords, The Punisher feared that he would fall to least threatening creatures that he has ever seen.

Maylene was astonished as she watched him shoot wildly with no targets. A few stray bullets barely missed her by inches. No longer could she stand back and watch. Until this moment he had been entirely self-reliant, but now it was up to her to do something or else he could go permanently insane.

With him firing the machine gun in all directions, she needed to act quickly and find a way to subdue him. After entering the factory, she disconnected the fuel tank off the back of the fork lift and rolled it towards The Punisher. She was careful not to roll it too close to him, then shot the tank to cause a blast that wouldn't kill him, but instead knock him unconscious.

She wasn't a doctor, but she knew that what she was doing could protentional kill him, but the circumstances where direr and risks had to be made. After running over to him she began preforming CPR. She had never performed it on a real human, only a test dummy in a class. This was the moment of truth, she pressed on his chest twenty five times and blew air into his mouth. It didn't work the first time so she pressed on his chest twenty more times and he regain conscious. Now wasn't a moment to rejoice for she still had to get the drugs out of her system. The next thing she did, she knew was more dangerous than exploding a gas tank near him, as she sat him up and shoved her fingers down his throat to induce vomiting. It could cause something to climb out of his stomach and get logged in his throat causing him to choke to death or the sudden burst of energy after being unconscious could cause his heart to skip a beat and stop. Those were just a few of the many complications that could occur, but she had to take her chances and pray that he his regular exorcise and low carb diet would be enough to keep him healthy enough to survive this.

With loud gargling noise The Punisher began to vomit. His stomach contents spewed forth. Most of it appeared to be liquid making it clear to see the pills as they fell on the ground. After a few more coughs, he turned to Maylene and said, "What the hell are you doing here?

"I just saved your ass," she answered. "A 'thank you' is in order."

"This place is dangerous. You should leave."

"Um, remember how I said I saved your life? You were tripping pretty hard on some drugs. If it wasn't for me, you would be dead. You're welcome."

The Punisher didn't reply as he stood up and wiped the vomit off his mouth. Then proceeded to walk away.

"Well done Mister Punisher, I thought I may have lost you for a moment there," a high-pitched voice spoke over the loud speaker. "I must commend you on killing all of my gun toting thugs and drug making slaves."

Looking a to the security camera, The Punisher asked, "Who are you?"

"What's that I can't hear you. These cameras don't have any microphones. Let me guess, you want know who I am. Why don't you come to the main office so that we can meet face to face?"

He turned to walk to the office, but Maylene stopped him. "Wait it might be a trap."

"For me there is no such thing."

"Oh… Kay, you may want to lighten up sometimes."

Together they entered the main office. Inside was large desk with several monitors and microphone on it. Behind it was leather swivel chair. Dramatically the chair spun around to reveal a four feet tall cartoon clown with purple hair and wide grin on his face.

"Oh shit, the drugs are still in my system," said The Punisher.

"Greetings, bet you never suspected that I was behind all of this massive drug operation. For it is I Slapstick."

"Um, I don't think he's a hallucination. I see and hear him too," said Maylene.

"Nope, this is all fake. Let's go," He turned and began to walk away and she followed.

"Wait don't walk away. I created a deadly drug and sold it to children. I commanded a hundred men to kill you. What are you going to do about that? Aren't you going to finish the job?" Slapstick ran out in front of The Punisher and got down on his knees and begun begging.

"Nope you're not real," he ignored him and continued to walk away.

"Come on, kill me! I'm a cartoon clown come to life. Everyone points and laugh at me. I can't shop at stores, everyone thinks that I'm not real or some sort of joke. I have no penis! I tried to kill myself, but cartoon physics make me invincible. But you are the Punisher you always find a way to kill your mark. Please kill me!" Slapstick grabbed his legs and began crying.

"I don't care if you are real or not, but I'm not going to kill you. It would be a waste of my time. If you are truly invincible then keep trying to kill yourself, you've got an eternity to figure out how to do it."

Maylene turned to Slapstick and said, "Wait stop trying to kill yourself. It won't fix anything. Like he said 'you can live for eternity', that means that every day you can try again at making your life right and better the world."

"You're right strange girl that I've never met before," Slapstick suddenly felt overwhelm with confidence. "I could rob banks and cops will never stop me, I could make a shit ton of drugs and make lots of money. I could create millions of plans to kill you Punisher and then nothing could stop my criminal activities! Hahahahahaha!

The Punisher payed no attention as he walked out the factory. Maylene followed and they left together.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Punisher War Journal 2.0/ Entry 89/ October 15th, 2099

Back when I was a Public Eye police officer we took pride in our work. We did our best to improve ourselves. Whenever we had free time we would practice our shooting or martial arts. If we didn't have the resources to do so at the time we would exorcise, simple ones like push-ups, sit ups, or squats. If we were tired, we would do puzzles or brain teasers to keep our minds sharp. We were beat cops always on portal. We had to respond to a threat in a moment's notice and not underestimate the enemy. We had to be quick and efficient taking out the scum as fast as possible, we were the swift hand of justice.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't have been said for desk cops. With their computers and telephones, everything they ever need is at their fingertips. They never have to get up from their cushy chairs unless they wanted more overly caffeinated coffee or a frosting covered donut. They don't do anything to hone their skills. They just sit on their asses, growing soft, fat, and stupid. Sure, they were good at filling out paperwork and stapling things, but when it comes to doing real work and being an actual police officer they failed. All that sugary food, lack of exorcise, and hours of listening to low brow comedy podcasts, lead to their demise.

The night air was warm and smelled like a dead skunk. The noise of yelling and police sirens came from the center of the city. A riot had broken out, but it wasn't about politics, religion, or civil rights. No just a distraction. As the street cops drove down to the city to contain the riot and protect the stores from looters, none of them noticed the explosion behind them coming from the police station.

When I arrived, they were all dead, lying on the floor with their legs propped up by their chairs. The whole station was silent and littered with dead bodies. They had all been killed quickly and efficiency. You wouldn't have known if anything had happened if you didn't look down and seen all the bodies. Poor men and women they didn't even stand a chance. It was a damn shame they were all innocent and some had families. Someone was going to pay for their death. I would see to it.

As silent as it was I could still hear a little bit of noise coming from the back of the station where the armory was. I was very quiet as I peeked around the corner and saw four Cyber-Ninjas, just as I expected. Only the Cyber-Nostra had the guts to pull a heist like this.

I hide behind the bend in the hallway as I silently loaded my antique 2015 .54 magnum Smith and Wesson and .48 caliber Stark-Fujikawa Street Pacifier and charged up my Mean Mule turbo kick boots. After loading the last bullet into the Magnum, I moved the cylinder back into place making a clicking noise. Most people would dismiss that sound for just a random noise, but unfortunately for me the Cyber-Ninjas don't think like that.

A plasma knife came flying at me. With my cat like reflexes I was able to dodge it at the last second. I didn't have time to plan, at that moment I had to rely on my instincts. They immediately picked up guns and started firing at me. Luckily, I was wearing my adamantium and vibranium reinforced bullet proof vest, so the bullets bounced right off. I barely even felt them. However, the Cyber-Ninja's didn't wear armor allowing the bullets from my Magnum and Street Pacifier to cut right through two of them like butter. One of them came at me with a plasma sword. Moving too fast for me to aim, he leaped high up in the air and flew over me. He wanted to get me where I was most vulnerable and cut my head off from behind. As he swung the blade I blocked it with one of my metal gauntlets. With a gun in both hands, I couldn't simply punch him so with one swift kick with my turbo boots I knocked him through a wall leaving a perfect outline of his body and killing him. While I was distracted the fourth and final Cyber-Ninja fired his gun at me. The three bullets missed my head by inches. I quickly dived down and grabbed a dead officer off the ground to hold in front of my face. Unlike the others, he was actually a rookie street cop who never had the opportunity to serve his people as a crime fighter, but he served his duty well as human shield. His skull stopped the bullets from hitting me, but I couldn't see the Cyber-Ninja shooting at me. It was too risky for me to poke my head out so that I could aim at him correctly. However, I could see that there were several concision Grenazers mounted on the wall nearby him. I shot at them causing the Grenazers to go off rendering him unconscious. I am glad that I was able to capture him, for tonight the Punisher Hotel will have a new guest.

As soon as the door opened to the makeshift prison the inmates started banging on the glass walls of their cells. Although some couldn't due to restraints or lack of strength from prolonged torture or starvation. It was a small underground prison, but secure. It held prisoners of all sizes, men and women, murders, rapists, cult leaders, and some that were not even human. Some could roam around in their cells, some were restrained chained to the walls, and some where attached to excessive torture machines. This was no ordinary prison, it was the punishment hotel.

Jake Gallows the former police officer turned vigilante inspired by The Punisher. entered through the large double doors dragging the unconscious body of the Cyber-Ninja behind him. With a loud thunk the blast proof doors closed behind him. The wheels turned and the locking bolts were set into place. The place was more locked up then Fort Knox.

Dragging the motionless body, he approached an empty glass cell. After opening it he threw the new prisoner in, he turned around and walked down the hall of glass cells. Most of the inmates yelled and cursed at him, but he paid them no attention. However, there was one inmate that averted his gaze and did his best not to call attention to himself. Jake Gallows stopped in front of his cell.

"Hey, Jeremy Brady, how are you doing today?" He said as if to start small talk.

"I'm fine… fine. I'm doing good." He continues to not meet Jake's gaze and nervously shifted his stance, wanting to run to the back of his cell, but too afraid to do so.

"What day is today? I seem to be blanking," asked Punisher 2099.

"I, um I don't know. Tuesday, I think."

"Are you sure, because I was thinking it was Wednesday."

"No, no, you're mistaken its Tuesday. It is so definitely Tuesday. Just a normal ordinary Tuesday. Nothing special about today."

"No, today is special. It's Wednesday, October 15th. Remember it well, for it is the date that is going to be chiseled into your grave stone."

Punisher 2099 pressed a button on the wall nearby causing the glass divider to slide up and open the cell.

"Ah! Please! No! Don't! Have Mercy!" frantically stumbling over himself Jeremy ran to the back of his cell like a cornered animal.

"Mercy? Did you show mercy to the young children that you kidnapped and beat?" Looming over the cowering prisoner with a large dark shadow, Punisher 2099 took out a pair of hand cuffs. "If you call beating a defenseless child to death with your bare hands mercy. Then yes, I shall show you mercy. A whole fuck ton of mercy."

As sweat collected on his forehead, Jeremy pressed his back up against the wall and held his hands out in front of him. Punisher 2099 grabbed his right wrist and slapped on end of the handcuffs on. Overcome by fear Jeremy struggled to get away. He kept his left hand as far away as possible and wiggled his left arm in a futile attempt to break free of Punisher 2099's grasp. This only enraged him as he took out his heavy club. First, he knocked him across his jaw knocking out a couple of teeth. After he twisted his head from the blow the next blow struck him on the back of the head where the spine met the skull. The club was not much more than a lead pipe with a carbon fiber coating, but each hit felt like a wrecking ball. The next strike came to the middle of the top of the skull. Everything went black for a second. Slowly vision came back with blurry shapes, then doubles of everything. Only to be taken away with the next blow, and the next one. Repeatedly the private prison warren Jake Gallows bludgeoned the inmate with the club. The majority blows landed on the top of the head leaving a gaping gash, but a few missed and hit his shoulder blades. Jeremy struggled to remain crouching as blood poured from the top of his head and down into his eyes; Holding himself up with one arm while the other was held by The Punisher 2099. After fifty-seven blows he let himself go limp and the beating stopped.

Walking out of the cell Punisher 2099 dragged Jeremy out of the cell by his wrist. He didn't bother to attach the other end of the hand cuff to the other wrist, he just held on to the chain and pulled him along the floor leaving a smeared streak of blood behind. As he walked down the hallway the inmates remained quiet and turned away to look at the blank walls of their cells. For they knew that soon they too would be dragged down the floor to their inevitable demise.

"Jeremy Brady of Mega New York City, you have been charged with kidnap of seventy-two children under the age of thirteen and forcing them into sweat shops." Punisher 2099 faced forward as he walked down the hall. He didn't stop to check if his inmate was paying attention. As he walked past the cells he entered a hallway with names chiseled on the wall with birthdates and deathdates. On one space of the wall read the name Jeremy Brady with the date May 1st 2045 and dash and blank that will soon be filled today's date. "You stripped them naked and forced them to work in harsh conditions with sharp objects and hazardous chemicals in you weapon factory. You drugged them, deprived them of sleep and food, and if they refused to work, you'd beat them. Sometimes you killed them if they were unable to work."

Finally, the hallway ended, Jeremy would no longer be dragged or beaten for he was about to meet the Death Chair. Punisher 2099 lift him up by his neck and sat him down in the chair. Leaning in with his face close to Jeremy's blood covered face, he asked, "How do you plead to these charges?"

"Guilty," He replied.

"Really? So, you know what you did? You understand what you had done to those children. Even though you too had once been in their place. Sure, times were different when you were a kid, but you suffered from the same pain they did. Yet you showed no mercy as you beated them and forced them into labor. Why did you do it?"

"I didn't know that there was any other way. I was only following orders from the mob in order to stay alive. The gun factory was all I knew."

"Bull shit, you had a choice. You could have made a difference, but you chose the path of evil. That path has only one end and that is the death chair."

"No, no, no!" He screamed and thrashed around. He swung his arms wildly and was able to break loose of Punisher 2099's grasp. Once he was free he ran as fast as his legs could carry him down the hallway, past the grave stones and the glass cells. Unfortunately, his attempt to escape was futile as he ran head first into an unmovable body. He was knocked back and fell back onto the floor.

As he looked up and saw what he ran into, he thought he was hallucinating. "Impossible, it can't be you! No!"

Crawling backwards on his back he looked up at the large figure wearing a black t-shirt with a large white skull on it. He was unable to believe his frighten eyes, but his eyes were not deceiving him. He was looking up at the man who he feared, The Punisher. Behind him stood two other figures, but they did not seem threatening. The Punisher walked forward, Jeremy crawled backwards until he reached another unmovable figure behind him as his head hit the boot of Jake Gallows the Punisher of 2099. Cornered by the two punishers there was no escape.

"No, no I don't believe it!" Jeremy was scared shitless.

"Believe it or not, you're still going to die," The Punisher pulled out a magnum revolver and shot him in the head.

As the blood settled on the floor, Maylene stepped out from The Punisher and stood between the two of them.

"Wait hold on, who it this?" She said gesturing towards Jake Gallows. "He looks just like you."

"He's The Punisher," The Punisher gave her a matter of fact answer, but she was still confused.

"What? No, you're The Punisher."

"He's right, I am The Punisher," said Jake. "Or at least I'm currently The Punisher of this time line. I presume that you're The Punisher of late 20th century and early 21st century, the original, Frank Castle. It is nice to meet you."

"So, wait? We are really in the future and there are now two of you?" She's still as confused as before.

Microchip took out his wallet and handed some money to Maylene and said, "Don't worry about it, here go out and get us some coffee. So, that we may better get acquainted and formalize our plans."

"Sigh, why not, but I'm only doing this so that I could get some fresh air to clear my mind. I assume that Neo-Punisher here takes his coffee the same as antique Punisher. When I get back we are going to have a long conversation about what my tasks are and what it entails for me to be your personal assistant." She took the money and walked to the door.

"Intern," Microchip corrected her.

"Yeah, yeah, intern. Still fuck you."

Punisher 2099 watched Maylene leave, then walked to large vault like doors at the entrance of the basement prison to examine them.

"You appear as you did in the latter half of the '10s and these doors are made of five thousand pounds of vibranium with the most intricate and advance locking mechanism. How did you get to here?"

"We are from New York, the same New York of Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, and Amadeus Cho. There is a time machine on every corner," answered Microchip. "As for your little door, I am the world's greatest computer hacker. There is no security system that I can't open, old or new."

"Oh right, I should have known you're Microchip. I've read a lot about you. Although how do you know about me?"

"Your reputation precedes you," replied The Punisher. "When we first arrived here a few of the thugs that we interrogated had mistaken me for you. Which lead me to realize that I had legacy. Then we basically had to figure out which house in town had basement big enough to be rebuilt into a miniature super max prison."

"Enough with questions, you know enough about us, but we have few questions of our own," said Microchip as he took a back pack off his shoulders. From it he took out a large high tech rifle with bright blue glowing muzzle and three gages around the trigger. He presented it to Punisher 2099 so that he could better examine it, and asked, "What can you tell us about this gun?"

Punisher 2099 leader over and looked down on the gun. After looking at it for two seconds he said, "Do you mean this gun model in general or this gun specifically?"

"Both if possible," answered Microchip.

"Well it is a Stark brand AX-17 full automatic plasma rifle. They are common on the streets. I don't see anything that makes this gun particularly unique. However, I could take the serial number and run it through the gun registry database."

"That will not be necessary. This gun was stolen and sold in the year 2017."

"I see, so you need me to help you find out who is smuggling firearms through time."

"Exactly."

"Sounds like the work of Cyber-Nostra. Despite my efforts, I still haven't discovered their headquarters. However, I'm sure with your assistance we could beat enough thugs to find it."

Maylene entered the Punishment Hotel holding a tray four Styrofoam cups on it. Three of them where black coffee with no cream or sweeter. The fourth was a pumpkin spice latte. As she walked past the doors and down the stairs, she looked around feeling confused. She was expected to be welcomed by two Punishers, but instead only saw Microchip.

He grabbed the pumpkin spice latte and took a long sip, "Ugh, winter is not long enough."

"Hold on, where are the skull twins?"

"Huh, oh you mean The Punishers? They're off on one of those crossover team-up thingies. Get comfortable these things can take a while."

"What?!" Feeling immediate anger and excitement, she turned around to quickly run out of the basement, but instead stumbled over the dead body of the recently punished inmate and spilled the three coffees.

"What is this body still doing here?" She asked.

"Well it appears that somebody hasn't clean it up yet," he looked up from his latte and stared right into her eyes without blink until she responded.

"What? But this isn't what I signed up for! You said that I'll be helping The Punisher first hand out on the streets." She furrowed her brow and clenched her hands into fists, but didn't dare raise them.

Remaining calm, Microchip raised a little remote control and pressed a button on it. Maylene turned her head to watch the vault doors close and felt betrayed.

"I'm not going to let you ditch me again," he said. "Now clean up the body or you won't get your college credits." He walk away down the hall towards the vault doors.

"If you're not going to let me leave, then how am I going to dump this body behind a dumpster?" She shouted at him. She hated doing the work, but was desperate to earn her degree that she didn't dare refuse the work.

"There's a furnace down the hall on the left," he shouted back. "The door is small so you are going to have to chop him into smaller pieces. Be careful not to splatter blood, it'll only make you job harder."

"Hey, you know I saved The Punisher's life last week!"

"No, you didn't. You almost killed him by making choke on his own vomit. Now clean up that damn body before I do the same. The smell of a rotting corpse and cheap American coffee is not a good combination."

After riding for five miles, Punisher 2099 stopped his motorcycle out in front of a rundown bar with a large neon sign.

"Cyber Noir?" The Punisher read the sign.

"Cyber-Nostra thugs like to hang out here," Punisher 2099 answered. "I caught a few of them robbing a police armory earlier tonight. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but this would be a good place to start."

The bar was full of riffraff, thugs, and scumbags. They were shooting pool, chugging bears, and bosting stories that never happened, but at as soon as The Punishers entered they all stopped and gawked them. The shock of seeing two Punishers was enough to render the toughest drunk catatonic. The only one left unfazed was the bartender who proceeded to pick up the beer bottles, glasses, pitchers, and shot glasses off the counter. It didn't matter if the glasses were empty or full, the bartender took them and hid all glass items under the counter.

Punisher 2099 looked around the bar scanning each patron. Like an oscillating jet engine, The Punisher 2099's gaze caused everyone to flinch as soon as he looked at them.

The tension in the bar was reaching a fever pitch. As Punisher 2099 held up a pistol fired it straight up into the air as a warning shot, everyone turned and gave him their undivided attention. "Okay the more you all cooperate; the quicker I will be out of here. I want everyone here that is a member of Cyber-Nostra to line up in single file line right here in front of me so that I may interrogate each of you one by one."

"Nice try," feeling doubtful The Punisher leaned in and whispered into Punisher 2099's ear, but he too became quite as he witnessed several of the patrons slowly stand up from their stools and lined up in front of Punisher 2099. He put his gun back in its holster, yet they didn't make any noise or sudden movements except they nervously shook like frighten puppy dogs. Just as he requested they lined up, six in all each one was more scared then the first.

"This is a Shocktronic 5999," Punisher 2099 held up a large rod that glowed green. "This is what scientists use to sedate mutant maneating gorillas. One hit of this will send 90,000 volts through your body, causing you lose control of your muscles, melt your skin, and render you permanently incontinent. I am going to use this to interrogate each one you until I get my answers."

He gestured with his free hand towards The Punisher. "I would like to introduce to my predecessor. He is to hear your answers and assist me if necessary. What he would like to know is who has been smuggling stolen guns back in time to the year 2017."

"Actually, I know who," the man at the back of the line spoke up.

"Don't speak out of time!" Punisher 2099 ordered. "You will get you turn to be tortured."

He grabbed the first man in line by his collar and charged up the Shocktronic within inches of his face, "Now what do you know about guns that were stolen from the police station earlier tonight?"

"I don't know anything," the thug was already peeing his pants. "I'm just a new recruit. They don't tell me anything. You should ask the guy at the end of the line. He knows everything."

"Don't you lie to me, scumbag!" Punisher 2099 proceed to repeatedly beat the man over the head with the Shocktronic. The glowing rod did everything that it was promised to do.

As Maylene walked back from the furnace she passed an office with a desk lamp left on. At first the room seemed unassuming, but something caught her eye and she walked back and peeked inside. As it turned out, her eyes had not deceived her. What she thought she saw the first time had turned out to be correct. Inside the office mounted to the wall in a golden frame was The Punisher's t-shirt. The skull logo was faded, splatters of blood stained the fabric, and multiple rips tattered the bottom, but it was unmistakably the same t-shirt that was worn by The Punisher from her time, Frank Castle. She was shocked to see it, but at the same time it made sense to her that this time line's Punisher would have it.

Looking around the room she saw other familiar objects such as a bulletin board with several photos on, a couple antique shotguns, a filing cabinet and a large desk. On top of which laid a journal lit by the desk lamp. Walking deeper into the room Maylene couldn't shake the feeling of being watched despite not seeing any sign of security cameras anywhere. As she reached the desk she picked up the journal. The book looked old and worn as if it could fall apart in her hands. She was careful as she turned the brittle yellow pages. Turning to a random page she began to read:

"June 5th 1992: I was tracking down the four heiresses of the Francostar corporation that where secretly drug dealers. They thought they could escape me by blasting off into space in their own personal space shuttle, but I was about to sneak on in disguise. Once on their space station, they quickly discovered my identity, but it didn't matter as I was able to easily kill their leader by setting him on fire and exploding the entire satellite."

She flipped through the hundreds of pages and read another excerpt:

"December 12th 2009: After tracking down Wolerine's son Draken in the sewers. We fiercely fought one on one. He eventually got the upper hand and chopped off my arms and head. Luckily, I was discovered by a vampire named Mordius, he reconstructed my body making me into a Frankenstein like monster and brought me back to life with a Bloodstone."

She could not believe what she was holding in her hands. It was The Punisher's war journal. His personal record of his exploits. Every murder he has ever committed, every underground criminal empire that he has taken down and more. It was all written down on these pages. She even saw her own name as she turned to January 17th of 2017 she read about how he took out the silly blood drug factory and spared the life of Slap Stick. However, it neglected to give her credit for assisting him. Instead he had written that he was able to overcome the drugs with his own strong willpower. He only mentioned her as an innocent bystander that he had to protect.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" She heard the voice of Microchip behind her. Startled she quickly spun around and hid the journal behind her back.

"Nothing, I uh, noticed this light on in here and only came in to turn off." She discretely tucked the journal into the waist band of her pants. Then turned off the desk lamp. "See don't want to waste electricity."

Awkwardly she tried to smile to not seem conspicuous.

"Well come now. I don't want you to be snooping around in other people's private belongings," Microchip lead her out of the room back into the hallway.

Three hours had past, blood was splattered all over the bar's floor, five nearly dead men were lying unconscious. They had all told The Punishers nothing. Now there was only one remaining. He was on his knees begging for mercy with his hands shaking over his head, and tears streaming down his face

Punisher 2099 approached him tapping the Shocktonic 5999 on the palm of his hand. "Well, well, well, looks like you're the last one. All of your friends didn't play nicely and I had to beat their faces to a bloody pulp. How about you? Are you going play nicely or are you going to end up unconscious in a puddle of your own vomit?"

"I'll play, I'll play!" the cowering man begged. "I don't know much, but I know where they are storing the guns that are being smuggled through time."

"Don't lie to me you little fucking pig!" Punisher 2099 raised his shocktonic ready to slam it down on the man's skull. He tensed the muscles in his face and braced for the beating, but before Punisher 2099 could bring down the club, The Punisher stepped in and grabbed him by his wrist.

"Stop, let him talk," The Punisher advised.

"No, it's too soon. There is no way that I would believe what he says." Punisher 2099 turned to The Punisher and sneered. "I must break his skull and make him bleed before he tells the truth."

"You're being overly aggressive, it can cost us information," He turned to the cowering thug. "Tell us where are the guns?"

The man didn't dare look up. He kept his head down as he spoke. "They are hiding them in the basement of the Thor church on 8th and B st. You must believe me. I saw them as I was driving the delivery truck for them."

"He's lying, I must beat him senseless!" Punisher 2099 tried to shake his arm loose, but The Punisher tightened his grip.

"You're wrong. He's telling the truth," said The Punisher. "He's breathing is consistent, and his words are spoken smoothly without any stuttering or long pauses. I know a liar when I hear one and he's not one."

"But he's an accomplice to the crimes, he must be punished."

"I just drove the truck, I never hurt no body," the man continued to beg.

"Listen to him, he's a delivery truck driver trying to make some money. We shouldn't waste time beating him. We got the information we needed, now let's go," The Punisher pulled on Punisher 2099 arm to try to get him to leave.

"But beating?" Punisher 2099 didn't move and kept his Shocktonic raised.

"Are you guys done beating people yet?" The bartender walked out of the back room with a mop and bucket. "I would like to clean up the floors before I close up."

Giving up, Punisher 2099 lowered his arm and feeling defeated he said, "Yeah, we're done."

The two Punishers turned around and left.

Punisher 2099 stopped his motorcycle out in front of the Church of Thor. Both him and The Punisher got off the bike and opened the saddle bag compartments revealing a small cache of high powered weaponry. From it Punisher 2099 took out two .48 caliber Stark-Fujikawa Street Pacifiers and The Punisher grabbed a 12-gauge molten steel Hammer Tech shotgun.

"Okay, we don't know much about this place," said The Punisher. "So, we need to do some reconnaissance, check for weak spots in the building, watch for who's coming and going. We need to know as much as possible so that we can plan out our attack."

He turned his head to look at Punisher 2099, but he was no longer standing next to him.

"Jake?" He was confused as to where his predecessor was.

"Jake? Punisher 2099?" from behind him he heard loud roar. He turned to look as witnessed as Punisher 2099 charge head first towards the front doors of the church. With one powerful kick, he knocked down the doors and proceed to fire his guns wildly inside.

"Oh, fuck no!" angered The Punisher ran in after him.

As soon as he reached the door he was startled by a thug with a pistol. With less than a second to spare he fired one shot into his midsection blowing him back though the door. Once inside it was such a chaotic mess that he could barely make out what was going on. The air was full of debris with wood splinters from the pews being blown apart, shards of glass from shattered stained glass, and smoke everywhere. Punisher 2099 was reckless, but efficient. Already there was fifteen bodies on the ground and counting. The thugs in the church looked like regular clergy men in dark cloaks, but they were packing a lot of guns. This must have been the right place or they just massacred a bunch of monks.

For a while Punisher 2099 was holding his own well and didn't need The Punisher's help, but once he ran out of ammo he had to hide behind an iron fountain and reload. The Punisher then stepped in and provided cover fire, but unlike Punisher 2099 he didn't kill with a hail of gun fire, but with one shot one kill. As the gun fire continued some of the monks took cover, but with it being a church almost everything was made from wood. However, along the sides where stone statues of Norse Gods like Bolder, Hela, and Loki. They provided good cover at first, but after a few shots they crumbled to pieces.

"Halt, this has gone on for long enough," the gun fighting paused and everyone turned their attention to the alter as man walked out of the back room. He was obviously the master mind behind the gun running operation, but he looked less like a crime lord and more like a nineteen sixties British pop singer. With a bowl haircut, round sunglasses, a naro jacket, and a large mechanical looking glove on his right hand, he looked like he was about to sing about free love rather than killing people.

This did nothing to intimidate The Punisher and he stepped out from behind his cover and yelled out, "I don't care about what you have to say, but if you're behind all of this then I will kill you!"

"Oh, how amusing, there's two of you now. If I have to kill the both of you then it's going to be twice the fun."

"Fearmaster I should have known that it was you behind this operation," Jake Gallows also stepped out from the iron fountain and joined The Punisher standing in the isle way. "If there is going to be any killing then it will be by me, killer of killers, The Punisher of 2099. Enjoy the next few seconds of your life, because they will be your last."

"Of course, it is me, the Fearmaster. Who else did you think I could be? Doctor Octopus. I'm the leader of Cyber-Nostra. We fight all of the time."

"Shut up, I am through listening your meaningless words. This ends now!" The Punisher threated, as he raised his shotgun, but before he could fire a shot, Fearmaster fired a concussive blast at him with the power glove knocking him into a statue of Thor in the back of the church.

As he hit the statue it crumbled into many pieces, although the metal hammer remained intact as it landed nearby The Punisher. He staggered to stand back up and face the Fearmaster as he walked toward him. Shaking his head to regain his focus he noticed that he was no longer holding the shotgun, for it had slid across the floor to the other side of the church. He was unarmed and defenseless as his opponent approached him.

"Ha ha, pathetic little PUNYsher. I will take pleasure in killing you," The Fearmaster taunted as he raised his gloved hand. "I shall crush you with my newest invention, The Hela Glove of Glory."

With nothing to lose, The Punisher made a desperate leap to the Thor hammer. Unfortunately, his attempt was futile for no matter how much muscle he exhorted he was unable to lift the hammer. He had seen the real Thor hammer many times before and could tell that this one was fake, but nonetheless he was still unable to lift it like the real one.

"Oh, that is precious, you're not even worthy to lift a fake Mjolnir," Fearmaster bent over and was effortlessly able to lift the mock hammer. "This is one of my most favorite weapons. This hammer has finger print scanner on the handle and a gravity regulator to ensure that only I am worthy to lift it."

Stunned with no defense The Punisher stood before Fearmaster as he charged the hammer with millions of volts of electricity.

"Fool watch out!" Punisher 2099 yelled as he grabbed and pulled him away at the last second, in a desperate dash they ran off into the priest's chambers. Behind them a lightning bolt shot out of the hammer exploding the ground.

Once safe in the small room Punisher 2099 informed The Punisher on what was happening, "He was hiding the guns in plain sight. Look around all of the Norse god statues are holding weapons. We can use them to fight back."

"You're right, this gives me a plan. Go for the Surtar statue. I'll go for the Balder statue."

As the Punishers ran out of the room, several cyber ninjas surrounded them. Just barely dodging shots The Punisher ran across the church and grabbed the lantern from the Balder statue. With a press of button on the handle he created a bright flash of light blinding the Cyber-ninjas and providing a distraction as Punisher 2099 took the sword from the Surtar statue. Swinging the red sword molten lava sprayed the ninjas setting them on fire.

As he regained his sight after the flash, Fearmaster charged up his Thor hammer to its most deadly level before shooting it at the two Punishers. The church was nearly destroyed in the powerful blast. Wood splinters and debris flew everywhere filling the air with dust and smoke.

"Ha ha, none can challenge the Fearmaster! I have the greatest weapons—Wha…?" His jaw dropped as the smoked cleared, and saw the two Punishers still standing in front of him. Suddenly he fell to the ground after being whacked on the back of his head.

The Punisher stood behind him holding a golden staff with a green orb on the end of it. "I've met the real Loki and I'm sure that he would be insulted by replica of his staff only be able to create decoys."

"The real Loki is dead!" Enraged Fearmaster yelled at him, before shooting with a concussion blast from Hela glove. The Punisher was sent flying back into a statue of Lady Sif.

"I'll kill you!" Punisher 2099 yelled as he jumped up behind him holding Sultur's sword over his head.

With quick reflexes Fearmaster spun around swinging the Thor Hammer knocking him to the ground. He hit the ground hard breaking a few ribs. He moaned as he spat out blood. The hammer felt like it weights a ton. Struggling to get up onto all fours he was suddenly stunned by an electric blast. Every muscle on his body constricted and his blood felt like it was on fire as thousands of volts surged through his body. Unable to control his movement his legs kicked and his arms swung wildly he seizure.

"Loki's dead, Thor's dead, Zeus is dead, all of the Gods are dead, and now only Fearmaster remains!" He gloated as he shocked the hopeless Punisher 2099. His words where cut short as the blade of a sword burst forth from his chest.

"Harrrrkkk!" Fearmaster cried out with mouth full of blood as more blood sprayed from his pierced chest. From behind him The Punisher pushed the sword of Sif through his chest.

"Feel the punishment of the Gods," said The Punisher as he pulled the sword out. With a large gaping hole in his chest Fearmaster staggered a few steps forward before falling to the floor dead.

Once Punisher 2099 stopped moving his limbs wildly and the shock of the electricity wore off The Punisher offer him a hand and lifted him up so that he could stand.

"You handled yourself pretty well," The Punisher complimented him. "It's good to see my legacy being carried out by such good hands."

"I couldn't have done it without you," Punisher 2099 returned the compliment. "It was an honor to fight alongside you."

As they walked towards the door out they were stopped by a lone Cyber-Ninja holding a small pistol.

"Stop right there, this isn't over yet," he said with his whole body shaking as he pulled back the hammer on the gun.

Punisher 2099 made a croaked smile as he turned his head to The Punisher and said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes, it looks like we have another guest for the Punishment Hotel."

The End


	3. Chapter 3

When you are being dragged along the asphalt at forty-five miles per hour from behind a five hundred horse power motorcycle your skin burns and starts peeling. You can still squirm around; it will help to shift your arms around taking time for one elbow to cool off for a second or two. You still must move back and forth so you can dodge gravel as it is thrown in your face. However, your legs take more damage tearing away the fabric of your pants, tearing apart your knees through you skin, muscles, and tendons until eventually you will never be able to walk again. You can try flipping over and skid on your back, the muscles on you back are tougher and the surface size is larger allowing the pain to be displace wider apart, but as the soft cushion of your butt is torn apart by gravel irreversible damage can occur. At fifty miles per hour the ground is moving so fast that you can no longer move, the pain becomes constant with no way to hold it off. Your skin and flesh is stripped away as more and more pieces of gravel imbed themselves into you. All it takes is one pothole or quick turn and you're back on your stomach again getting a face full of asphalt. The chains around your wrists bind tighter pulling your bones out of their sockets. Soon your body becomes numb to everything but the burning hot pain. Your face becomes deformed by the constant friction making you deformed and unrecognizable. Your genitals are also torn apart leaving you unable to control you bodily functions. As the bike reaches sixty miles per hour, you start to black out, it becomes difficult to breath. All you can experience is pain as you fight to breath.

The night sky was beautiful with not a star, but the neon signs on store fronts left streaks of light all around the futuristic city. The engine revved louder sounding like the roar of a dragon as four hundred pounds of steel and rubber surged across the road. Frank Castle The Punisher held onto the hips of his new partner in justice, Jake Gallows the Punisher of 2099. They both looked rather the same with black slick back hair and rippling muscles. Jake Gallows however had more youthful features with tighter skin and sharper check bones. Their friendship had just been forged as they took down a black-market weapons ring. They dismembered and killed dozens of scum bags in a church with high powered weaponry. They killed all the thugs except for one who they are now dragging behind them. They shall teach him the true meaning of punishment.

As they pulled up to the Punisher 2099's base of operations, Jake presses a button on control console of his motorcycle and a garage door opened near the front door.

"Hold up, what's that?" He turned his head to Frank Castle and pointed at a weird computer that sat on the ground with a diamond incrusted baseball bat sticking out of it.

"That is the time machine that my team and I used to travel here," The Punisher answered as he got off the bike. "It was made with a baseball bat that was used by a thug named the Czar. The diamonds imbedded in it are time crystals that send people through time when touched. Microchip modified it so that we could travel to exact dates."

"Very nice I admire your associate's craftsmanship," Punisher 2099 said before parked his motorcycle in the garage.

As he returned walking back, he scratched the back of his neck and avoided eye contact with The Punisher. "Do you have to leave so soon? I was hoping you would stay so that I could show you around the Punishment Hotel. I want to make you proud to see your legacy live on."

"Yes, I would like that."

Punisher 2099 bent down to remove the chains off the wrists of their newly captured thug. He was still unconscious so he picked him up and slung him over his shoulder so he could carry him as they entered the building.

As they walked down the stairs to the Punisher 2099's basement makeshift prison they could hear the Maylene and Microchip bickering like father and daughter.

"I did not sign up to be some blood mopping cleaning lady!" screamed the college intern Maylene.

"You can't go out following around The Punisher or else we're going to be mopping up your blood," screamed back the pudgy middle aged Microchip.

They stopped and turned to the stairs as they noticed The Punishers walking down them.

"Well, well isn't it my favorite shipping couple, Castllows."

"Castllows?" Punisher 2099 arched one eyebrow in confusion.

"You know the combination of your two last names Castle and Gallows."

The Punisher walked past them not acknowledging them.

"The Punisher is not amused," commented Microchip.

Maylene chased after The Punisher and said to him, "Hey, tell your friend that you hired me for my skills, to help you fight crime and not to clean up your messes."

The Punisher let out a deep sigh, turned to her and said, "I didn't hire you, he did and I don't care about you. If I had my way you wouldn't be with us."

Maylene froze in place feeling devastated. Microchip walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "He doesn't like you, but don't take it personal, I don't think he even likes me."

Punisher 2099 readjusted the still unconscious thug on his should then ran up to catch up to The Punisher and directed his attention to the rows of cells that he has his prisoners in.

"Impressive, you seem to have quite a nice set up here," The Punisher admired.

"Yes, let me show you," Punisher 2099 opened one cell with metal bed in it and carried the thug inside. Once inside he placed hand cuffs around his wrists and ankles then slapped his face a few times.

"Wake up scum bag, and say hello to your personal hell."

The thug slowly regain conscious. Once he saw the eyes of his captor he screamed and frantically tried to get away, but the handcuffs kept him from running or even standing.

"Shhhh, screaming will not help you. There is no one here to help you, there is only me, your greatest nightmare." He clamped his hands on the shoulders the thug.

The thug stopped fighting, but his body shook in fear. Punisher 2099 smiled and pointed at the metal bed.

"You see that over there, it is your new bed, but you won't be sleeping on it. No, instead you will be spending every waking moment screaming in pain."

He picked up a remote control and showed it to the thug.

"You see with this button, I can use it to shock you with thousands of volts of electricity." He presses the button and the bed glowed with blue electricity.

"With this button, I can cook you from the inside out." The bed glowed red with burning heat.

"Next is this amazing feature that I can use to make spikes poke up and stick you in a hundred different places." Small holes opened in the bed and spikes raised up.

"Then there is my most favorite feature it's called the stretcher. Let me show you how it works."

Punisher 2099 picked up the thug and carried him to the bed.

"Please don't do this. I won't hurt anyone anymore. Let me go and I'll go straight," the thug begged. "I'll adopt homeless children and help in animal shelters. I'll stop eating glutton! Please don't do this!"

"It's too late for that, you must suffer for your sins." He placed him on the bed with his arms raised above his head. Magnets held the handcuffs in place making it impossible for him to move his arms and legs.

"This bed can grow and stretch to pull you limbs longer. It also has speed settings to make it last minutes or even days. I think I'll set it to a three-day cycle so that you will feel your bones being slowly pulled out of their sockets."

"No, no, let me go. This isn't fair!" the thug cried out.

Punisher 2099 payed no attention as he turned around and walked out of the cell.

"Interesting interrogating methods," complemented The Punisher.

"Thanks, I pride myself in my work," said Punisher 2099 with cheeks actually blushing. "I have honed my skills to a point that with enough time and pain I could even make you squeal."

"Not likely, I have a cyanide capsule in my back molar. If anyone was ever strong enough to capture me and try to torture me, I would just break the capsule, swallow it, and kill myself."

"That's nice, but if your captor knew about it, and removed it, you would be shit out of luck and he'll be able to do whatever he wanted to do wtih you."

"You're really cocky for an amateur."

"I don't mean to sound arrogant, I'm just confident in my work. Come let me show you more of my work." Punisher 2099 motioned with his hands for The Punisher to follow him down the hallway of cells.

"To the left is Alexander Odalric," Punisher 2099 pointed to a cell with a man strapped to a table with a rag over his face and a high-powered hose spraying his face. "He liked to take pleasure in drowning children, so I crafted this waterboarding machine to spray him with gallons of water for minute long intervals with five second gaps in between."

"Over here I have one of my most prized prisoners. He's name is Kron Stone, the killer of my family," Kron was strapped to a chair with a rictus like grin on his face, his eyes pried open and a television in front of him. "Like you I too witnessed my family being murdered before me, but they weren't caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. You see Kron here grew up in an abusive family that hated him, making him bitter to the point that now he hates to see happy families and it drives him to kill any happy family that he sees. So, as punishment I force him to watch the Brady Bunch all day long and implanted sensors in his cheeks so that if he ever stops smiling he will be shocked with 50,000 volts of electricity, but I'm not completely inhumane. I let him sleep five hours a night and feed him three meals of SpaghettiOs daily."

Punisher 2099 smiled in delight, The Punisher was disgusted.

"If you know he killed your family then why don't you just kill him?" asked The Punisher. "If he is just a serial killer then there is no reason to keep him alive and interrogate him. It's not like he is a low-level thug that might lead you to a wider criminal organization."

"Death is too simple for him. He must suffer for the pain he's caused, for the families that he killed and the people that he left behind. He is mine now, I shall do as I please to him."

"This is too much," The Punisher glared. "We are instruments of justice. We kill those who do wrong. We do not take pleasure in killing and torturing, because it is horrible and wrong. Otherwise we are just as much of monsters as they are."

"No, I may be inspired by you, but I'm different," Punisher 2099 was enraged. "I'm not a cop, I am not a vigilante. I am an angel of vengeance. I hunt done the evil doers and punish them as I see fitting."

"That is not fair, they do not deserve what you do them. They deserve this." The Punisher pulled out two Uzis.

With one shot between the eyes he killed Kron, then proceeded to spin around shooting wildly killing many of the inmates. With shattered glass and splattered blood, he freed the prisoners from their torture devices and sent them to hell. Shocked by seeing all his work being destroyed, Punisher 2099 was filled with raged causing him to charge The Punisher and punched him in the jaw to make him stop.

"Stop!" He yelled.

"It's a shame," The Punisher remained calm. "You had so much potential, but you threw it all away by pursuing your own perverted pleasures."

The Punisher raised up one of the Uzi's to kill, but before he could Maylene ran out and stood between them to stop him. "Wait you have no right to do this. You may not agree with his methods of judgement, but we are his guests here, we have to respect his property and not interfere. What you do here has no impact on the world that we come from. You're just wasting bullets."

"She's right, this is pointless and let's just return to our timeline," said Microchip.

"No, I cannot change morals. Wherever I go if I see injustice I shall punish it," said The Punisher.

"Fine then so be it," With one arm Punisher 2099 grabbed Maylene and shoved her to the ground. Then with the other hand he pulled out his .54 Magnum and fired two shots at The Punisher. He ducked out of the way and ran off down the hall. Microchip grabbed Maylene and lead her to safety. Once The Punisher saw that they were out of the way he turned around and threw two grenades at Punisher 2099, but he was quick to get out of the way. The cells collapsed and blew apart as they exploded, but no one was harmed, instead the prisoners were freed. The Punishers however didn't care, they were only motivated to kill each other. With thick smoke and debris filling the air the prisoners could make a quick escape.

"I used to worship you, now I see how foolish I was," shouted Punisher 2099. "You are nothing but a coward, afraid to embrace your true status as a God."

"No, you are insane," The Punisher shouted back. "You've been consumed with madness and the only cure for it is a bullet from my gun."

"If we must fight then so be it, but it's a shame, we could have made history. Together we could have had all of the criminals on their knees begging for mercy and we would I ruled over them as kings."

The Punisher used to the shouts of his opponent to guide him through the smoke and debris, as Punisher 2099 ran for his personal armory.

Running down the alleyway newly captured thug Daniel Hume was relieved to discover that he will not have to spend a night in the Punishment Hotel. After losing half his face to being dragged behind a motorcycle he dreaded whatever Punisher 2099 had is store for him and after seeing the torture bed he begun praying for the sweet relief of death. However, being alive was something that he valued much more which was why he took this opportunity to escape while he still could. Unfortunately little did he know that his freedom would not last long.

"Freeze! Stop!" was the only warning he got before two seconds later a steel trash can lid came flying through the air into the back of his head, causing him to fall down. He caught himself with his hands and knees, but as he stood up he was sent back down by a boot stomping on his back.

"I said freeze, you're under arrest!" Maylene yelled as she stomped on his back again.

Daniel fought back by rolling over and grabbing her leg. He used his momentum to knock her down to the ground. She countered back by kicking him in the face. Frustrated and desperate to get away he slammed his fists into her knees, then rolled away far enough to be able to stand back up without her reaching him. Maylene however was also quick to get back her feet as they stood back up at the same time and they locked eyes. Danial didn't want to fight, he just wanted to run away, but he realized that if he were to get away he would have to fight her first. So he charged her grabbing her shoulders and slamming her into the brick wall. Being pinned against the wall, Maylene realized that even though she didn't like fighting dirty she was going to have to in order to defeat her opponent. With a quick kick to the crotch she was able to get him to release his grip on her shoulders then she grabbed a nearby trash can and threw it at his head, disorientating him. This gave her enough time to grab a small piece of rope out of the garbage and tie him up against a chain link fence.

Feeling proud of herself Maylene dusted herself off as she stood back up and said, "That should hold you for bit. You have the right to remain silence. Anything you say-"

BLAM!

Startled, Maylene jumped back from blood splattered over her clothes as Daniel's head exploded from a gunshot. She turned around to see standing behind her was Microchip holding a smoking gun.

"Thanks, for tying him up for me," he said.

"What the hell?!" She yelled at him.

"What? Did you want to kill him? Why did you tie him up for?"

"I was apprehending him so that the police could arrest him."

"The police cannot be trusted, they take too much time and if they ever do their actual job and send him to prison, he'll back on the streets in a few years. Killing him is the only way to be sure that he never does anything illicit again."

"Okay you want to do it that way, then give me a gun and we can take out more of Jake Gallow's escaped prisoners."

"Never mind let's go," with a sudden change of heart Microchip turned around and walked back down the alleyway.

"What the hell? You preach to me about pursuing your own form of justice as vigilantes, but when I agree to go along with your ways you push me away and keep me in the dark. You need to stop with being such a hypocrite and let me actually work with you."

"Come with me, Frank should be done fighting the other guy soon, and when he does we should meet him by the time machine so that he doesn't leave without us."

"No, don't keep brushing me off! You just saw what I can do. You know I can handle myself in a fight and you know that I am at the top of my class in Criminal Justice Studies. Also, I am no stranger to guns, so why do you keep doing this to me?"

Microchip let out a deep sigh and rubbed his temples, "You're fired. We will no longer need your assistance, we will cancel any payment to your student loans, and you will not receive any credits. So now you have a choice: you can either come with me and go back to our timeline or you can stay here. It's up to you."

Maylene stood still with a steely glare. At first, she didn't care and was willing to stay, but then she remembered that she had stolen The Punisher's War Journal. With her hand, she discreetly reached behind her back to make sure it was still hidden under her shirt and stuck in her waistband. There was no way she could stay in this time line with it. If she went back to her time line she could use it change the world. So she let out a deep sigh and followed Microchip back down the alleyway.

The Punisher ran through the hideout until he came out the front door. Once outside he looked up to the sky to see Punisher 2099 hovering in the air with a jetpack strapped to his back and holding a .54 magnum in one hand and a grenade launcher in the other.

"If it's a fight you want then it's a fight you'll get!" He shouted before raining down bullets and grenades upon The Punisher. To avoid the barrage of death The Punisher ran back into the hide out for cover.

"There is no hiding! I will bring down the whole building down upon you and pull you out of the rubble to tear you apart limb from limb!" he proceeded to launch more grenades at the hideout causing parts of it to crumble apart.

With a loud rumble and bang the garage door broke apart as The Punisher burst forth from it on Punisher 2099's motorcycle.

"I don't need a jetpack, all I need is hate!" He yelled as he reeved up the motorcycle before he took off as fast as he could. He reached two hundred miles per hour in an eighth of a mile before he drove himself towards a parked car on the road right below Punisher 2099. Before he reached the car, he got up with his feet on the seat, but kept his hands on the handle bars. As the motorcycle impacted with the car the back flipped up in the air and the gas tank exploded, launching him up in the air like a human heat seeking missile. Punisher 2099 was shocked and caught off guard as The Punisher grabbed onto him. They embraced in midair as two birds of prey in fierce combat.

"There is no form of technology that will protect you from the brutal force of my fist!" Shouted The Punisher before he proceeded to punch Punisher 2099 a few times in the jaw. He tried to fight him off by punching back, but despite being at a disadvantage The Punisher still had the upper hand in the fight as he grabbed on to the back of the jetpack and pulled out several random wires. These wires where vital to the jetpack propulsion system and without them they began to fall towards the ground at an alarming speed. As they fell The Punisher continued to punch Punisher 2099 in the face.

The ground shook as they hit the street. Punisher 2099 landed on the bottom, but his armor adsorbed the impact causing it to shatter and fall apart. They didn't waste any time as they got back up. As soon as they were back on their feet they went back to fighting. Striking with all their might with their fists and feet. Fist to jaw, knee to ribs, elbow to throat. They didn't hold back this would be a fight to the finish. The two met as at a stalemate as they were evenly matched. They could take each other's punches and knew each other's attacks. As soon as one tried to deliver a finisher attack the other would counter it. Each kick or punch was evenly matched. If one tried to break away the other would grab them and pull them back. Neither one could gain the upper hand, they were too evenly matched.

Sweat dripped off their faces, muscles where sore, veins bulged, and bones ached. They grew tried, but neither would give up. The two men continued fighting with same amount of hatred as before. There was only one way that this fight could end. So, The Punisher grabbed Punisher 2099 and brought him close to his body, embracing him in his large muscular arms. He pressed his lips to him, kissing him hard. His lips where salty and chapped, but still soft and full. Punisher 2099 was shocked and a little scared, not knowing how to process what was happening. Their lips parted and their mouths opened as The Punisher inserted his tongue. Held on top of his tongue was the cyanide capsule that he had kept inside of his back molar. He had broken his molar earlier, but was careful to keep the cyanide capsule intact so that he could use it to kill Punisher 2099.

With a swift upper cup to his jaw, The Punisher forced him to bite down on the cyanide capsule releasing the poison. He choked and convulsed as it slid down his throat.

"Cyanide can be deadly if you eat it, but a kiss could be even deadlier if you mean it," said The Punisher as he watched his young protégé wither and die.

"Oh my god, were the two of you just kissing?" The Punisher turned around to see Maylene and Microchip watching him.

"Well I guess that is one way to kill a man," said Microchip.

"He had it coming," He walked past them towards the time machine. "We should leave. The police will be here soon."

They could already hear sirens grow loud as they crossed the street. There must have been at least twenty officers as they drove in on the motorcycles. Microchip rushed to reset the time machine. The police surrounded them, got off their bikes and aimed their large hand guns. They looked intimidating with their bulky armor and helmets that covered half of their faces. One of them stood taller than the rest, he had large badge on his chest and a square jaw. He walked forward with his gun aimed and said, "Freeze! I am judge, jury, and executioner. And my judgement for you is death."

"Not today," said The Punisher as he and Maylene grabbed ahold the time machine and Microchip pressed the enter button sending them back in time. They disappeared before the police officers and they were left feeling like failures.

"Yeah, some other time."

 **The End**


	4. Chapter 4

"Wait, hold on, this is way outside of town," Bryn was confused and beginning to get a bit worried. "Where are we going again?"

"Don't worry it's not much further," replied Maylene. "It's in the warehouse area, just past the shipping docks."

"I thought you said that I was taking you to the law firm you're interning at," Bryn glanced at the map on their phone and saw that the destination was only few miles ahead.

"Well, it's not really a law firm. I can't say much about it, but they are involved in criminal justice."

As they entered the warehouse district they became surrounded by large buildings that have been abandoned for years. Many of the buildings were in a state of disrepair and became homes for seagulls.

The compact car jostled as it rode over potholes. They were miles from any gas station and phone reception was spotty out there. In the two years that Bryn had driven for the SwingAround app they've never given a ride this far out of town, but they had known Maylene since they started college and trusted her enough to take her to such an unusual location.

"Any luck finding a job?" Asked Maylene.

"None at all," replied Bryn. "Most employers still say that they only want a college graduate."

"Well once you get your political science degree you should be able to get a good job as a journalist or something."

"Yeah, doing freelance reporting isn't paying the bills, and the only articles that I ever get published are the ones about trans issues," Bryn snidely commented.

They tapped on their phone again to double check the destination. Maylene hadn't selected an address, but instead a point on the map for the ride share app.

"You know it would be a lot easier for the both of us if you entered the address of where we're going," said Bryn.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be suspicious, but I can't give out the address," replied Maylene. "Don't worry it's not like I'm going to kill you."

"Not funny," Bryn furrowed their brow.

"Oh yeah, forgot I heard about the murders of all of those drivers. I didn't mean to..." feeling awkward Maylene looked out the window before speaking again. "So how are you protecting yourself?"

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean to be insensitive. SwingAround is offering optional self-defense classes and they've installed an alert icon in the app that calls 911."

"That's it? That's not going to be enough to stop a serial killer. Have you ever thought about getting a gun?"

"What the fuck?! No!" Bryn was outraged by the suggestion. "I don't want to kill anyone! Besides those things cause more harm than good."

"I'm sorry, but you're going to need more than a few punches and a button to protect you from a murderer."

"I'm not buying a gun." Bryn shot a mean glare at Maylene.

"Well then how about some pepper spray or a knife? I know a guy that can help you out."

"You know a guy?" Bryn raised an eyebrow. " Why are you hanging out with a guy that can provide you with deadly weapons?"

"What? No, that's not... what I meant is, just, never mind, forget I said anything," Maylene tried her best to avoid the topic.

"Well, I know it's none of my business, but you've been spending so much time outside of the dorms that a lot of the other students have been talking and are constantly asking me where you are. I'm running out of excuses."

Feeling nervous Maylene quickly pulled her bag out of the back seat. As she did one of her books fell out an open pocket. "Hey, my stop is just ahead, you can let me out here."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry," Bryn apologized after realizing their comments bothered Maylene. Nonetheless they pulled the car over and unlocked the passenger door.

"Thanks for the ride. I'll see you at school." Maylene tried to make a hasty exit, but as she stepped out of the car Bryn stopped her.

"Hey, you forgot one of your books," they reached into the back seat to retrieve the fallen book. It was an old tattered notebook with a skull drawn on the cover of it. "What is this strange book anyway?"

With a swift hand Maylene snatched the book away, "Oh it's nothing. My goth cousin wanted me to show it to one of the school's art professors for a portfolio review... or something."

She stuffed the journal back into her backpack and hoped to God that her lie was convincing enough, "Thanks again, for taking me all the way out here. You're a real friend."

"No problem, I need the money anyway," Bryn said as they noticed an icon appear on their phone. "Oh, look I've got another ride queued up. This trip might not be so bad after all. Bye."

"Bye," Maylene waved as the car pulled away.

Driving off Bryn, glanced at their phone and saw that their next passenger was only a quarter mile down the street. It wasn't long until they saw their passenger waiting standing near the road. His large muscles and towering stature made him intimidating. With slicked back hair and all black clothes, he looked like a character out of an old gangster movie. However, what caught Bryn's eye was the skull on the passenger's shirt that resemble the skull on Maylene's note book.

Once close enough Bryn pulled over and unlocked the doors to let him in. After glancing at their phone, they welcomed the stranger in, "Hi, are you Frank?"

Entering the warehouse Maylene took off her coat and threw it at the coat rack, but it fell off. After letting out an exasperated sigh she picked up the coat, hung it on the rack and placed her book bag next to it.

"I thought I fired you or you quit or something," Microchip looked up from his computer screen. As usual his desk was the same clutter of papers and half empty Starbucks cups. Barely balancing on the edge of one corner was an oven pizza pan with one slice left.

"You wish, I still need the credits, and no one is hiring interns until next semester," she said as she picked up the last slice and placed it on a paper plate. "So, where's the big guy?"

"He's out running an errand," said Microchip as he turned his head back to his computer screen, but he continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye as she placed the paper plate on his computer tower.

"So, what are we doing today? Busting some drug dealers? Uncovering a black-market arms dealer? Or are we finally killing Kraven the Hunter?"

Maylene walked over to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup.

"You need to organize the guns again," said Microchip in a condescending tone.

"But I just did that last time I was here," replied Maylene.

"You organized them by type. We need you to organize them by caliber size."

"I need to stop spending so much time with you guys. People are starting to get suspicious."

Maylene took a sip of her coffee and quickly spat it out followed by a few loud coughs. "God damn, how old is this coffee?"

"When was the last time you made coffee?" Without breaking eye contact he grabbed the pizza splice off the tower and took a bite out of it. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want this?"

Bryn watched The Punisher through the rear-view mirror as he sat down in the seat behind their seat. As The Punisher clipped on his seat belt Bryn could see a pistol holstered on his belt. Bryn thought for a moment that the passenger could be a cop, but they didn't want to take the chance that he could be the serial killer, so they pressed the alert button on their phone before pulling out onto the street.

"How are you today?" Asked Bryn trying to act normal.

The Punisher didn't answer for a moment and closely took note of Bryn's appearance. He noticed that they had short wavy black hair. Their glasses made their eyes appear smaller indicating that they are nearsighted. Despite having a large chin and puffy cheeks their nose was small. With a light blue collared shirt with a red bow tie, khakis and a dark blue blazer on top, they were unable to tell if they hid anything under their clothes.

"What are you doing out here?" Asked The Punisher.

"This isn't my normal territory, but I just dropped some one off not far back," said Bryn.

"What is your name?"

"Bryn Pak."

Feeling nervous Bryn shook a bit, but then clenched their hands tighter on their steering wheel.

"How long have you been driving?" The Punisher continued with his questions.

"Two years now. I usually only drive on the weekend," Bryn felt extremely tense in fear that they may soon be killed.

"Show me your driver's license."

Feeling intimidated Bryn complied. They pulled their driver's license out of their back pocket and handed it to The Punisher.

After examining the ID for a moment, he said "This ID shows a different name and you look different in the picture."

"Yeah, that was made before my second puberty." Feeling nervous Bryn forced out a bit of a laugh to try to break the tension. "I thought that puberty was horrible enough the first time that though I would go ahead and do it again. Hehe, get it."

The Punisher didn't respond to the joke and gave the ID back. As he looked over the dashboard noticing a sticker over the center console.

"Why does that sticker say 'They/Them'?" asked The Punisher

"Those are my pronouns. I'm agender," answered Bryn.

"Agender?" The Punisher raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"As in not man or woman. I don't feel connected to either gender, so I identify as being outside of the gender binary." Feeling even more nervous Bryn reached into their pants pocket and slid their fingers through a hard plastic dog faced key chain with two sharp pointy ears.

After taking a long pause, The Punisher finally asked, "How do you know that you aren't a man or woman?"

"That's a bit too personal to answer."

As a police car pulled up behind them with its siren blared and lights flashed, Bryn let out a sigh of relief and pulled over. However, The Punisher thought differently and pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the back of Bryn's head.

"Did you lead the police to my base?!" The Punisher yelled.

"I... I didn't do anything!" Bryn stuttered as they panicked. Taking their hand out of their pocket, they raised both hands showing that they're unarmed.

"Then why are you here?" asked The Punisher.

"I told you, I was just dropping off a friend. I swear I don't know who you are." They didn't dare look at The Punisher as they looked to the rear-view mirror to watch the cop car pulled over and a cop walked out with his hand on his holstered pistol.

The Punisher put his pistol back in his holster as the cop came closer and he dug through a pouch on this belt for something else. Bryn lowered the driver side window so that the cop could lean over to speak to them.

"Do you know why I pull-" before the cop could finished his sentence he noticed smoke coming from the backseat. He looked over at The Punisher to see him wearing a small gas mask and holding a metal canister with smoke pouring out of it. The thick white smoke quickly filled the air around them.

"Get down!" He yelled at Bryn as he pulled out his pistol, but before he could aim the gun he felt weak and passed out. Bryn did the same.

Once the smoke had dissipated The Punisher took off his mask and stepped out of the back seat. First, he checked the cop to make sure that he was breathing steadily, and his heart rate remained regular. Then he picked him up and carried him back to the driver seat of the cop car. After he walked back to the car and he checked Bryn's vitals before moving them into the passenger seat.

Once in the driver seat The Punisher readjusted the rear-view mirror. Originally, he was moving it to get a better look at the back window, but then he noticed himself in the mirror. As he looked at his reflection he realized that he had neglected his grooming practices. Beard stubble grew on his chin. The little hairs would soon become itched and scruffy. He didn't like his appearance with a beard anyway. Moving up to the top of his head they noticed that his hair was getting long. Soon it'll be long enough to grab onto. It will need to be cut soon, but he liked the way it looked long and wondered how it would look if it was longer. He pushed the thought out of his mind and made a mental note to cut their hair and shave later.

At first Bryn felt comfortable and relaxed as if they were sleeping on a cloud. They felt at peace as they slowly regain consciousness. Unfortunately, the tranquil silence was interrupted by the sharp clank of metal. They struggled to open their eyes and focus on where they were. A burning bright light shined right front of them. They were unable to shield their eye as ropes held their arms to the metal chair that they sat in. There were also ropes around their ankles completely restricting their ability to move.

Feeling confused they struggled to understand what had happened. Last thing they remembered was they were driving. They wondered how they ended up in this cold concrete walled room. They recalled pulling their car over and talking to a cop. Finally, the last thing they remembered was thick white smoke.

The clanging of metal pierced the silence once again. They turned to the left to see the passenger that they had picked up earlier next to a table with several small objects on it. They watched as The Punisher picked up a butcher knife from the table examine it a place it back down. He then picked up a cattle prod, examined it and put it back.

"Please, please don't kill me! Please don't!" Bryn cried out. Panicking they struggled to break free of the ropes, but it was useless, the ropes were too tight.

"I usually don't hurt innocent people like you," The Punisher picked up a set of brass knuckles and slipped them on to his hand. "However, you know things that you shouldn't know."

Standing tall and looking cold showing no emotion he approached Bryn with a brass covered raised fist.

"Please you don't have to hurt me. I'll do anything you want," Bryn begged.

"Who told you about this location?"

"I don't know where I am. I was just driving my friend to her job."

"Are you a cop?" The Punisher placed one hand on Bryn's shoulder and pulled back his fist with the brass knuckles.

"No, no I'm not a cop!" Bryn cried as they feared for their life.

With the scrape of metal on the concrete floor the door opened and they both turned to the right to see Maylene standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" She asked standing composed.

"Maylene, what are you doing?" Bryn felt confused and a bit relieved but was still very scared.

"I'm so sorry, please excuse my hard ass boss," Maylene rushed over to Bryn and started untying the ropes. "I can't believe you were going to beat up my friend."

"I was only going to scare them to find out what they know," The Punisher asked. He stood back and watched her. "Did you bring them here?"

"Yeah, my car broke down, so I hired Bryn to drive me here," she explained as she finished untying the ropes.

"You have compromised our location and alerted the police of our secret base of operations."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't tell them who you are or give them the exact location of the warehouse. I didn't realize that you would be so upset."

"Wait hold on, what's going on here?" Feeling relieved Bryn stood back up and rubbed their wrists where the ropes had bound them.

"Well since you've already met. This is my boss The Punisher."

"You're The Punisher? As in the murderous vigilantly Punisher. I thought you were some sort of myth created by cops to cover up cop killings." Bryn no longer feared for their lives, but they still could not believe what was happening.

"Whoa, cool the conspiracy theories, but yeah, this is the Punisher. He's real and I intern for him."

"Why are you telling them everything? They are a liability, they called the police on me," said The Punisher.

"One cop isn't going to blow our cover and besides Bryn isn't going to rat us out. Are you?"

"Um... no, I still don't know what's going on," replied Bryn. "So, what are you? Some guy that thinks that he could do a better job than the police."

"Hardly," Maylene turned to The Punisher. "Go on tell them your story."

"After I returned from Vietnam I vowed to live a peaceful life and settle down with my wife and two children, but they were gunned down in front me in a random act of violence by the mafia. Since then I have waged a one-man war against organized crime, just so that no other person would suffered the same pain that I had."

"Damn, I'm sorry for your loss," said Bryn.

"Hey, is everything okay in here?" Microchip entered the room. "I saw Maylene come in here and didn't hear any screams. I just wanted to make sure no one's hurt."

"Everything is fine," replied The Punisher. "However, we're going to have pack up everything and leave. Your errand girl has compromised our location."

"Hold up, we're not going to tell anyone else," said Maylene.

"I'm so sorry I called the police on you," apologized Bryn. "I thought that you were a serial killer... Well I mean one that was killing ride share drivers like me."

"Hey, that gives me an idea," Maylene snapped her fingers. "Maybe you could investigate and stop that murderer."

"Murderer?" The Punisher became attentive. "Tell me everything you know."

"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with aiding a murderer," replied Bryn. "However, I guess it's a means to an end. I mean it would be better if you could work with the police to have them arrested, but either way I would feel safer knowing that my next passenger won't kill me."

"So, you are fine with telling us everything we need to know?" Asked Maylene.

"Well I don't know much, only what I've heard on the news. Which is that the killer uses the SwingAround app to call driver's. When they pick them up the killer uses either a gun or knife to kill the driver and leave their bodies on the streets. Then they steal the car and disarm their smartphones or any other GPS tracking device in the car. No one has seen the killer and they've killed twenty-three people so far and the murders are becoming more frequent."

"That's not much to go on, we're going to need to wait until we have more information to work with," said Microchip

"I'll become a driver and use myself as bait," suggested The Punisher.

"Yeah, but I've been driving for two years now and have not yet been attacked by anyone. How do we know that you'll ever pick up the killer?" Asked Bryn.

"I guess I could hack into the apps database," Microchip rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "I could find where and when the killer is most likely to attack."

"What do I have to do to be hired on as a driver?" Asked The Punisher.

"It's easy, just download the app and go an orientation at a SwingAround headquarters," answered Bryn. "Also, since the killings, new drivers have been required to attend mixers with each other to encourage more communication and trust between drivers. Do you have a car?"

"I have a van."

"You mean the armored one full of guns and bombs? That's not going to work," replied Maylene. "No one but old people trust vans these days."

"We can get another car."

"I could steal something from the impound," suggested Microchip.

"Also, you'll have to do something about your clothes. Do you have anything more casual?" Asked Maylene.

"I have a trench coat," replied The Punisher.

"We'll have to buy you some new clothes."

"Wait are you suggesting that we give a superhero a makeover?" Bryn was holding back their excitement.

"Well a murderous vigilante, but essentially yeah."

"Squeeeee," Bryn made a high-pitched noise. "Sorry but I love makeovers."

"Come to think of it, that does sound exciting."

"Oh, dear lord," Microchip rolled his eyes.

The Punisher looked around confused.

Once the three of them arrived at the thrift store, Bryn tried their best to practice self-control and not run in, but they were the first to enter and were running around searching through the men's section by the time The Punisher and Maylene entered.

"Are you okay with this?" Asked Maylene.

The Punisher stood still at the doors for a while. He looked around and took note of the layout of the store, checked each exit, and sized up every shopper and clerk. Once satisfied they answered with a simple "yes".

"Well then we should catch up with Bryn. We don't want to make them wait," the two of them began walking over to the men's section.

"I already have a few ideas, but I wanted know what kind of colors and styles you like," Bryn welcomed him over with an arm full of clothes.

"Black," replied The Punisher. "And camouflage and pockets. I need a lot of pockets."

"Yeah, no," Bryn went back to sorting through the rack of clothes. "I'm think pastel colors will work best. It'll be a good contrast to your dark hair and bring out your eyes."

They grabbed a horizontal striped shirt off the rack and held it in front of The Punisher. Then immediately shook their head and put the shirt back.

"Avoid stripes vertical or horizontal. We need to keep it simple. However, plaid might work."

They tossed a few shirts to the side, then went back to shuffling through the clothes. They sorted through the rack like a dog digging through a garden. The Punisher lifted one eyebrow and looked over at Maylene.

"Don't worry they know what they're doing," said Maylene.

"There's not much here for me to work with here," Bryn stopped for a second and asked. "How do you feel about synthetic fabrics?"

"Doesn't matter," answered The Punisher.

"Okay, try these on," Bryn shoved a large arm full of clothes into The Punisher.

The front offices of the auto impound was busy and crowded with people even in the middle of the week. So, Microchip went around back to a separate building that was only used on the weekends for auto auctions. The outside was monitored by security cameras that were easily deactivated by shining a UV light directly in the lenses. With a simple lock pick gun Micro was able to enter through a side door. Once inside what appeared to be a storage room, a beeping noise could be heard coming from the security system. He quickly located the security unit, grabbed it and ripped it off the wall. The beeping stopped, but he still needed to grab two wires and crossed them to short out the system and prevent the authorities from being alerted.

Once everything was safe he started searching the office. Large overflowing filing cabinets crowded the offices that where disorganized. There were only three desks with three computers. He was able to log onto one computer using the password, Passw0rd. However, the car database was protected with a more complicated password. Normally Microchip would use a flash drive to download a virus to unlock all files, unfortunately these computers were too old to have a flash drive port. So instead he created an email address to send himself a virus that he had stored on the cloud using his phone.

Once in the database he searched through all the different cars. He couldn't just steal any of the cars, he needed to find the right one. He decided to narrow his search down to cars seized from convicted criminals. Then narrowed the search even further to cars that belonged to murderers. Most of the cars were made before the year 2000 making it too old to be driven for SwingAround unless they were classic cars in good condition. He then eliminated all trucks and two seated cars. He finally settled on a Fiat 500. Out of all the cars that belonged to murderers it was the best option with the most seating, safest, best handling and most miles per gallon.

After taking down the license plate number and he began searching for the keys. He found that they were with the other car keys were enclosed in a glass case mounted on the wall. The case had a more complex lock than the door so instead of using a lock pick to open it he applied a little bit of plastic explosives on the lock. With a small bang the case shattered open, however the smoke from the explosion caused the sprinklers to rain down on him.

"Fucking great," grumbled Microchip.

The Punisher stepped out of the dressing room wearing an ill-fitting pastel blue shirt and a pair of blue corduroy pants.

"I don't like this," The Punisher said through a clenched jaw.

Bryn and Maylene looked them up and down and critiqued his appearance.

"It looks okay I guess," said Maylene feeling uncertain.

"You'll need a larger shirt, but the pants look good on you," commented Bryn.

"They itch," He replied.

"Maybe we'll try khakis next and a more colorful shirt," said Bryn.

"We don't need to do this; a black t-shirt and jeans are good enough."

"You can't keep living life dressed as that kid from Toy Story that tortured toys," said Maylene. "You need to wear more normal looking casual clothes."

Bryn gave The Punisher another set of clothes and said, "Here try these. We're probably going to have to try several different outfits before we find the right clothes for you."

The Punisher let out an exasperated sigh.

Once dried off Microchip left the offices and entered the car lot with keys in hand. The car lot was large and difficult to navigate. With so many trucks and large cars it was hard to spot the small Fiat. He began to walk down each row of cars searching for it.

As he walked through the lot he had the suspicious feeling that he was being watched. He looked around and didn't see anyone at first, but then he heard a growling. Looking around again he then noticed a large pit bull snarling between two cars across from him.

"Good boy, don't worry I won't hurt you," scared Microchip shook as he crouched down holding one hand out in front of him as he reached with his other hand to his back pocket for a can of pepper spray.

The dog continued to growl and took a step closer. Microchip took a step back and thought about running away, but he heard another growl. He turned to the right and saw another pit bull bigger than the first.

"Another doggo, fucking great," Microchip was sweating scared for his life.

Turning around and facing the mirror, right away The Punisher didn't like the way he looked in his new outfit. It was like he was no longer looking at his own reflection. He recognized his own appearance, however something appeared wrong, but he couldn't tell what it was. All of his imperfections became more noticeable and some of his features that he usually didn't mind became unsightly. He usually didn't pay attention to his appearance, but The Punisher couldn't stop himself from scrutinize over all the little details. Above all what bothered him the most was that he no longer felt like himself in the new clothes. He didn't feel like the fearless Punisher anymore, but instead like some phony that was unworthy to fit his own war hero reputation.

There was nothing aesthetically wrong with the clothes, but he was uncomfortable with his appearance. The shirt was a green V-neck which he hated, because of the way the shirt accentuated his shoulders and made his waste look narrow. The deep V collar also showed the contours of his chest and let a few unsightly hairs poked out. He couldn't figure out what he disliked about the body hair, but he found it unsettling. The pants were tan khakis that fit loosely, but they where newly ironed leaving a fine crease like business man would wear and not a crusader of justice.

"Come on out, let us see how you look," yelled Bryn from the other side of the door.

"No, get me some different clothes," The Punisher yelled back.

"Come on, it can't be that bad. Let us see," said Maylene as she forced the door open.

The Punisher stood frozen. They felt the urge to punch her in the face but held back.

"What did I say? I have an impeccable fashion sense," Bryn bosted. "He looks like a normal everyday SwingAround driver. No one will suspect a thing."

"Yeah, I agree. You did a great job," Maylene complimented.

While the two college students were satisfied with the new clothes. The Punisher however was not and his unemotional facade was beginning to crack.

"Get. Me. Different. Clothes." Said The Punisher through his clenched jaw.

"Come on, you look great, we don't need to try anything more on," Replied Bryn.

"I can't wear this. I need something else."

"They're right those clothes fit you perfectly," said Maylene. "This could be your new look."

"Get me new clothes!" The Punisher snapped back at them before walking back into the dressing room.

Taking off running Microchip whipped his head side to side, searching for the Fiat, as the two pit bull dogs chased after him. His gut jiggled and he wheezed as he ran as fast as his fat legs could carry him. However, all his years of sitting at a desk and eating junk food has made him out of shape. It wasn't long before the dogs caught up to him.

As he turned to spray the mace, he stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground. With a viscous bite one of the dogs bit into his leg drawing blood.

"Urg! Son of a bitch!" He cried out in pain as the teeth tore into his flesh. With such a strong jaw the dog refused to let go until Microchip sprayed mace directly into their eyes and kicked its head with his other leg. The other dog snapped at him as he hastily scrambled to his feet and took off running again.

In effort to lose the second dog he made a sharp left turn and ran up another row of cars. The dog was not swayed by this maneuver. He kept up only inches away. Luckily, he saw the Fiat dead ahead. Running towards it he grabbed the keys and pressed the button on the key fob to unlock the doors. Huffing and puffing he was out of breath as he reached the car. Panicking he fumbled and dropped keys as he opened the door and got in. As he reached down to pick up the keys the dog bit at his fingers nearly taking them off. He slammed the door onto the back of the dog's head to make them release their bite.

Once safely inside he slowed down his breathing and held his bloody hand in pain. Looking at his legs he saw his right ankle equally bloody. He needed to stop the bleeding, so he struggled to take off his shirt and tear it apart so that he could bandage his wounds.

After trying on about a dozen different outfits, The Punisher didn't even look at the mirror anymore. He covered it up with their skull t-shirt and pretended that it wasn't there, as he tried on the new outfit. In his mind he already imagined his appearance and didn't want to acknowledge it. He knew that Maylene and Bryn where standing on the other side of the door waiting for him to come out and he dreaded what they will say about his appearance. Every voice in his head told him not to leave the dressing room, but he refused to let those negative thoughts make him weak and pushed them out of his head before stepping out of the dressing room in a navy-blue turtleneck sweater and white twill pants.

"Okay, we're getting somewhere," Bryn commented. "Those pants look great on you."

"Yeah, but that sweater makes his shoulders look bulky," commented Maylene.

"Of course, he looks bulky. He's two hundred fifty pounds of muscle."

"Yeah, but in all of that wool he looks like two hundred fifty pounds of oranges in a five-pound bag."

She then turned to The Punisher and said, "No disrespect Mr. Castle, but that's not a good a look for you."

"I don't like this sweater, but the pants are not bad," said the Punisher. He felt the need to compromise in order to end this.

"What about the v-neck? I thought we liked the v-neck?" Maylene suggested.

"No we're not wearing the v-neck."

"Well we tried on just about everything in the store," said Bryn. They rubbed their forehead in exasperation. "We're running out of options."

"Why don't we let him pick something out?" Maylene suggested. "What do you think Mr. Castle? Do you see anything you like?"

The Punisher walked away and proceeded through the store.

"Okay, you can pick something, just no cargo," said Bryn.

After searching through a rack on the other side of the store in the woman's section, The Punisher took out a blue floral shirt with green and red flowers on it.

"I like this," he said as he showed the shirt to Bryn and Maylene.

"Isn't that a blouse?" Asked Maylene.

"It could work," said Bryn. "The large collar could make his neck look thinner."

"But it's woman's clothes," said Maylene.

"You say that like that's a problem," replied Bryn. "You suggested that he should pick something out. So let him where what he wants."

"Okay, at least he won't look like Steven Seagal at a Slayer concert."

"Do you know why I wear a skull?" asked The Punisher. "It is my message to the criminal underworld that, I am The Punisher, it announces that I'm coming for them. When they see my skull they know what I am all about and what I'm going to do. When you tell me I have to be casual and dress in a way to seem normal, I don't know what to do. How do I display myself like this? What do blue sweaters and twill pants say about me? With this at least I'll be noticed and not look like any other fool on the street. So I don't need you opinion on my appearance. I don't need you to suggest more clothes to me. I can take care of myself, because I'm the only one who knows me."

He turned around and went back into the dressing room.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" Asked Microchip when he saw The Punisher in his new clothes.

"What the fuck is that?" Asked the Punisher when he saw the Fiat parked behind Microchip.

With five minutes until the SwingAround orientation all four of them met up in front of the auto parts store were the orientation was to be held. Microchip had already parked the car in line for inspection.

"Well you told me to get you a car," Microchip gestured towards it. "This here is a Fiat 500 The best car you can steal from an impound that belonged to a guy that used to decapitate mailmen for fun. I hope you like it, I risked life and limb for it."

"I think I could bench press it," replied The Punisher.

"I like it, it looks cute," said Bryn.

"You see Bryn likes it and they're non-bias," said Microchip. "Besides you should be grateful I got mauled by two different dogs for it."

"Do you have the paperwork for it?" Asked The Punisher ignoring their partner's injuries.

"Yeah, I didn't have much time, but I managed to forge you a registration, insurance card, and driver's license." Microchip handed The Punisher a large envelope. He opened it and looked at the papers. "I'm sorry I got blood on it. I had to use my t-shirt to bandage my bite marks."

"These will do," he turned to walk away to the auto parts store. "We'll regroup after the orientation. Let me know what you find out about the killer after you hack the app's database."

Once he knew that The Punisher had walked faraway enough that he wouldn't be he begin imitating him, "Yes, thank you for getting me a beautiful Italian car, and authentic looking forged documents. I appreciate your hard work. I value you as a human being and not just some desk jockey. Don't worry I'll pay for your rabies treatment."

Maylene walked over and put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Don't worry we'll help you hack into the app."

"Thanks, but I checked on it already and it's covered with so much security and firewalls that it would take me all day even if I had full use of both of my hands."

"Shit, well I guess it's good to know that my personal information is well protected," said Bryn.

"I'm going to have to sneak in to the SwingAround headquarters and access the mainframe manually." He lowered his head in self-doubt. "I just hope that my injuries don't caused me to screw up again."

"Well we could do it," suggested Maylene feeling sorry for him. "With an earpiece and microphone, you can guide Bryn and me through the whole process."

"What? Me? No," Bryn didn't like the suggestion. "If I get caught I could get fired. Not to mention arrested for breaking in and entering."

"Why stop now? You could already be arrested for aiding and abetting a serial killer."

"Oh my God, I gave a makeover to a serial killer," they were shocked by the sudden realization.

"Thanks, you two," Microchip grabbed both Maylene and Bryn and hugged them. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"You're bleeding on my shoulder," said Maylene as she tried to pry Microchip's gorilla arms off her.

"Come on, smile," said the instructor as he held his smart phone ready to photograph The Punisher. "I can't take your photo for your profile unless you smile."

Remaining stoic The Punisher stood in front of a red brick back drop refusing to smile.

"Just smile please. You've finished the training and the only thing that needs to be done before you can go out on the road as a driver is for me to take your picture."

The Punisher tried hard to smile, but he couldn't. He took his time to focus and push out all the negative emotions and replace them with happy thoughts like kittens, ice cream cones, and dead Nazis. However even after that all that he could manage was to slightly angle up the corners of his lips and open his mouth to show his teeth.

"Oh wow, good luck getting passengers with a profile pic like that, but it'll have to do," the instructor snapped a photo. "Okay, next."

Instantly losing his smile he walked from the back drop to a chair to take seat. After a few minutes all the drivers got their photos taken and they returned to the sitting area.

"Okay guys, you should be all set. However, before you can all get out on the road some of the more experienced drivers and I would like to get to know you all better at a nonalcoholic mixer at a smoothie bar down the street. So, if you follow me we'll head over there."

Once The Punisher and the other drivers reached the smoothie bar they were welcomed by more experienced drivers. Among them was Bryn. They walked over to talk to The Punisher.

"Hey Frank, there's been a slight change of plans, but Maylene and Microchip are scoping out the-" they started.

"Hold it, I see someone I know," The Punisher said walking past them.

He walked over and approached a young Latin-American man sitting at the bar. He wore a leather jacket and had a blonde streak in his otherwise black hair.

"Robbie Reyes?" Asked The Punisher.

"Um yeah," Robbie answered confused. "Ah, have I met you at one of these mixers before?"

"You're the new Ghost Rider."

"No, I'm not, I don't know what you're talking about," Robbie said looking around, and then he leaned in and whispered. "Who are you and how do you know that?"

"I'm The Punisher and I keep tabs on all superpowered individuals."

"Oh shit," He coughed, nearly choked on his smoothie. After recovering from the shock, he paused and looked The Punisher up and down. "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. I'm used to you wearing a skull shirt. What's up with the blouse?"

"I like it."

"Well to each their own. So, what are you doing here?" Robbie shrugged it off.

"I'm following a lead on a serial killer. What are you doing here?"

"The same, I guess. Do you have any leads?"

"I could have a few."

"Hey, how about a good old fashion superhero team-up?"

"Yes, power in numbers."

"Sweet, high five," Robbie smiled like an idiot and raised his hand. The Punisher left him hanging.

After the mixer Robbie and The Punisher regrouped with Microchip in the Fiat parked across the street from the SwingAround office building. Microchip sat in the backseat with his laptop open and a headset on.

"Hey Frank, who's the punk ass kid?" He said.

"Hi, my name is Robbie Reyes. I'm the new Ghost Rider. I don't drive a motorcycle like the other one, but I got a really nice Dodge- "

"Yeah, yeah I didn't ask for your life story," Microchip interrupted. "Close the door, the draft is causing too much background noise."

"Oh sorry," Robbie closed the door.

"Bryn and Maylene just broke in through the back door to the building."

The Punisher paid no attention to him as they opened the glove box and pulled out a submachine gun. They proceeded to remove the magazine to make sure it was loaded and held it up to check that the sights were lined up.

"We're not really going to kill him, are we?" Robbie felt a bit uneasy in the presence of guns.

"Not unless he gets away, which never happens," The Punisher put the gun back in the glove box and opened the center console to pull out another submachine gun.

"It's just that I was shot to death by several of those." Feeling stressed Robbie grabbed the edge of his seat.

"Could you quit your belly aching," Microchip yelled at him, and then he returned his attention back to his laptop and pressed the headphones closer to his ears. "Could you repeat that May?"

"We're on the second floor, now what?" he heard Maylene's voice through his headset with some static.

"Okay, you're gonna want to go down the hallway and take the first right," Microchip replied.

Inside the SwingAround offices Maylene and Bryn where cautious as they walked down the hallway.

"Okay, he said that the mainframe should be in a room around the corner," said Maylene.

Bryn took the lead and walked around the corner first. Then froze as they came face to face a large male security guard.

"Hey what are you doing here?" Hollered the guard as he reached to his hip to grab a Billy club.

Bryn grabbed the dog face keychain from their hoody, they reacted quickly by punching him several times in the gut then upper cutting him in the chin. Maylene ran around behind him. She wrapped her left arm around his neck and placed her right hand on top of his head and squeezed as hard as she could. He tried to reach back and grab at her. Bryn punched him a few more times in the stomach to make him stop, but it wasn't long until he fell unconscious.

"Sorry, I didn't want to hurt him but-" Bryn shook with adrenaline.

"Save it, he should be asleep for at least the next hour," said Maylene as she readjusted the backpack on her back before proceeding to walk down the hall.

"Why did you bring that bag anyway?" Asked Bryn.

"Microchip gave me some flash drives that could help us access the database. Besides I've a few things in here that I didn't want to leave alone," answered Maylene.

"What's going on in there?" Maylene could hear Microchip through her ear piece.

"We ran into a little bit of trouble, but we took care of it," replied Maylene.

"Good you shouldn't be far from the database," said Microchip. "It should be behind the last door on the right."

Looking around Maylene found the door to the database, however once she found it she saw that the door was protected with a key card and code lock she was disappointed.

"It looks like we have a bigger problem here with this door lock," said Maylene.

"Okay, send me a picture of it," said Microchip.

Back in the car Microchip pulled out his cell phone and waited for the picture. In the front seat The Punisher pulled out yet another submachine gun from under his seat. Like with the others he check to make sure it's loaded.

"Can you please stop that," Robbie shifted in his seat feeling nervous.

"I need to be ready for tonight's mission," replied The Punisher. "Do you want one for yourself?"

"No thanks, did you not hear me when I told you that I was killed by guns. If it wasn't for Ghost Rider spirit I wouldn't be here today."

The Punisher paused and looked off into the distance. "I watched as my family shot to death. I too was shot several times and just barely survived."

"Then how could you hold that weapon after living through such a horrible event?"

The Punisher looked down at the gun that he held in his hand, then into Robbie's eyes. "It's not the guns that killed my family, but the monsters who fired them."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a man yelling coming from down the street.

"Fuck you, freak bitch!" Yelled one of three white men with shaved heads as they approached a book store.

Two of the men took out cans of black spray paint to write slurs and draw swastikas over the store front, while the third stood watching holding a baseball bat.

As The Punisher placed the submachine gun back under the seat he turned to Robbie and said, "Wait here, I'll be back."

After stepping out of the car, he cracked his knuckles and yelled, "Hey, assholes! What do you think you're doing?"

This caught the attention one of the skinhead with baseball bat. He turned to The Punisher and started walking towards them with the bat raised. "You need to mind your own business! This doesn't concern you!"

The skinhead swung the bat, but The Punisher caught it with one hand and shoved the palm of his other hand up into the skinhead's face breaking his nose. This wasn't enough, so next The Punisher sent his elbow into the arm holding the bat breaking it. Taking the bat, he swung it around and took out his knees.

Seeing their friend being beaten the other two dropped their cans of spray paint and took out switch blades.

"Come and get it boys," The Punisher shined them on.

One of the skinheads lunged at him leading with the knife. He stepped to the left and grabbed the wrist of the knife hand then elbowed him in the nose. Twisting the wrist, he made him drop the knife. Next, he grab him by the chest, using the leverage of their arm he flip him over throwing him into the last skinhead.

For a moment The Punisher dropped his guard which was all it took for the first skinhead to come up behind him and grab him in a head lock.

"You think you're tougher than us dickhead?" He said as he tightens his grip around The Punisher's head. He struggled to break free as the other two skinheads stood back up with their knives back in hand.

"Owf!" grunted the skinhead in pain as large book slammed into the back of his head causing him to release his grip. The Punisher stepped forward to fight the other two skinheads, however out of nowhere flaming chains flew out and wrapped around them holding them back. The Punisher turned to see Robbie in his Ghost Rider form. He threw out another chain past him at the first skinhead wrapping him up too.

"I thought I told you to stay in the car," said The Punisher.

Robbie returned to his human form and stared blankly for a few seconds before saying, "You're welcome, and while you're at it you should thank that woman behind you."

He pointed past The Punisher at a tall blonde hair woman in a camouflage jacket behind him.

"I'm sorry for what happened to your store ma'am," said The Punisher.

"No problem, I was just going to hide in the store and call the cops," she said. "However, despite the good fight you put up it looked like you could use some help."

"I was only trying to help a citizen in need."

"Thank you, but I could take care of myself," she tugged on her jacket to show off the U.S. marines patch on her jacket. "However, I'm trying to be a pacifist today."

"You served?"

"Yes, Sergeant Heather Diaz. I served four deployments in Iraq before I was discharged thanks to our current president."

"That's unfortunate, the military should consider you to be an asset rather than a liability," The Punisher shook hands with Heather. "I too served, in Vietnam for four years."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm surprised that I haven't seen you at the VFW support groups?"

"No Thanks, those aren't for me. I still have a lot to fight for."

The Punisher bent down and picked a can of spray paint and turned to Robbie. "Come on let's go back to the car."

The two of them started to walk away as Heather yelled back at him, "Well if you are ever ready to stop fighting remember it's never too late to make yourself into a better person."

Once back at the car The Punisher shook up the can of spray paint and started spraying it over the hood.

"What are you doing?" asked Robbie.

"It's branding," The Punisher said as he painted a skull on his hood.

"You're back just in time," Microchip poked his head out the side window of the Fiat. "Bryn and Maylene just gained access to the app's database."

"Okay guys, have you found anything yet?" Said Microchip through the headset.

"We're not guys here," replied Bryn. They were now wearing the head set; sitting at the mainframe computer in large cooled room full of towers of hard drives stacked six feet tall. Maylene sat nearby flipping through one of her notebooks.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I was talking to you Bryn," Microchip corrected himself. "Um... folks or whatever."

"That's not much better, but I haven't got the time to lecture you."

"Well did you find anything about where the killer is calling for rides from?"

"I'm still going through the rides, but so far all of the rides were picked up in or nearby the Hell's Kitchen area."

"Hold on, this can't be right!" Maylene was feverishly searching through her copy of the Punisher's war journal from the future (*see last chapter).

"Yeow!" Bryn yelled as Maylene yanked the headset off them with a powerful tug.

"You have to go to Midtown!" She yelled into the headset. "Trust me the killer is going to be in Midtown!"

"Why the hell did you do that for?" Bryn rubbed their hurting ears. "Hey, wait a minute isn't that your cousin's sketch book?"

Bryn reached for the notebook, but Maylene pulled it away. She instead handed the headset back to them.

"Never mind the book. Here, Micro still has to walk you through shutting down access to the app for all drivers except for Mr. Castle and Ghost Boy."

"Well what did they say?" Asked Robbie. Both him and The Punisher stared at Microchip attentively.

"Well, they're giving me two different locations," feeling uncertain Microchip answered them. "Bryn said that we should search in Hell's Kitchen, while Maylene insists on Midtown for some reason."

"It's a good thing that there's two of us," replied Robbie. "I'll take Hell's Kitchen while you can take Midtown."

"No, I'll take Hell's Kitchen," The Punisher insisted. "I know that area better."

"Whatever you say, Midtown it is," Said Robbie.

"Here you'll need these to communicate to each other," Microchip handed the both of them both headsets.

Once The Punisher and Robbie Reyes had proceeded to travel to their separate locations and began driving all night. Picking up rides and took them from point A to point B. They drove around town for several hours staying busy the whole time. Picking up passengers, each time wondering if they may be the killer. Most of them were nice, however some not so much. A few times The Punisher got suspicious of his passengers and paid close attention to them watching their every move not knowing if they are going to try to kill them or not. Nonetheless, they continued driving like as if they were normal drivers.

"It's almost sunrise and I still haven't seen any sign that any of my passengers could have been the killer," Robbie said into his headset. "We'll probably have to go out again tomorrow night."

"We will if we have to," replied The Punisher. "We must be persistent in the pursuit of justice."

"Yeah, but what if one of us already picked up the killer and they didn't kill us because they knew that we're superheroes or something."

"I doubt it, but we'll have to find different ways to find them."

"I don't mean to complain, since I'm making good money, but the sooner we catch this guy the better."

"We are going to have radio silence for a while. I just got a call for a ride."

"10-4 big guy, I've a ride queued up too."

The Punisher switched off his headset and pulled over to the sidewalk near an office building. A middle aged balding man in a suit got in.

"You're Frank?" The man asked.

"Yes, are you Charles?" The Punisher replied as the man got into the back seat and clipped on his seat belt.

"Yeah, take me to the Plaza hotel and make it quick or else I'll give you a one-star rating."

Robbie's ride was unassuming looking. He was a young black man in an all leather biker suit holding a full-face helmet. Robbie went ahead and picked him up.

"Are you Sanford?" Robbie asked him as he got into the car.

"Yes, thanks for picking me up," He said as he sat in the car looking around as he held his helmet on his lap. "This is quite a nice car you have here."

"Thanks, um could you please put on your seat belt," Robbie replied.

The car remained parked on the street corner as Robbie waited for Sanford to put on his seat belt. However, he instead continued to admire the car.

"This is a Dodge Charger, right? What year is it?"

"It's a'69."

"Ah nice year, I always wanted to have one of these."

"Yeah, thanks and all, but I can't leave unless you put on your seat belt. You know safety first." Robbie was growing impatient with his passenger.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what am I thinking," he lifted the helmet from his lap and placed it on his head.

"No no, not you the helmet, your seat belt."

Robbie watched as the passenger reached across himself with his left hand as if to grab his seat belt, but instead he reached behind his back and pulled out a gun. He swung his arm around to aim his gun, but as he did so Robbie grabbed the gun arm and pushed it away. With his other arm the passenger punched him in the face. Then he shoved his body onto Robbie pushing him up against the door. Robbie fought back with all his might. During the struggle the passenger detached Robbie's seat belt and opened his door knocking him out of the car. As Robbie fell onto the ground the passenger fired his gun twice at his chest, but instead of blood coming out of the bullet holes flames shot out as he transformed into the Ghost Rider. Quickly the killer closed the door and tried to drive off in the car. Robbie climbed to his feet and chased after him. With a long lunge he leapt and grabbed onto the back bumper. Using only his upper body strength he lifted himself onto trunk as the car sped down the road.

Calling upon his Ghost Rider powers Robbie tried to telekinetically speak to the car and control it. Normally he would have a supernatural connection to the car that allowed him to control the car in every way possible from its driving to its atomic structure. However, at this moment he no longer felt that connection. He called out in his mind to the car and he got no response. It was like his Ghost Rider powers had been overtaken.

With one hand Robbie switched his head set back on and called The Punisher, "Frank! Frank! Come in big guy!"

"What is happening? I thought we agreed to radio silence as we drove," said The Punisher through the headset.

"I found him! The killer has stolen my car and I'm hanging off the back bumper!" Robbie screamed back at him.

"How did that happen?"

"Never mind that, I need your help!"

"Can't you take control of the car?"

"No, I tried that. Normally whenever someone tried to steal my car I would be able phase them out or control the car from the outside, but I can't. It's like this guy has taken over the car and severed my connection with it!"

Robbie struggled to hold on as the car started to shake and rattle as it began to change. Tail fins lifted up from the back fenders, several long exhaust piles shot out from below the car, and the trunk opened up as the back bumper contorted and reformed itself into a jet engine.

"Oh whoa, what the fuck!" Robbie lost his grip of the trunk and slide off, but was able to catch himself by grabbing onto a tail fin. "Frank! I need your help! He's transforming my car into some sort of supercharged nightmare!"

"Wait what does this man look like?" The Punisher replied.

"I don't know. He's wearing all leather and helmet like some biker!"

"Did he have blue accents on his leather suit?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Sounds like he's Overdrive. Hold on I'll come find you."

"How the hell do you know everyone?"

"Hey, who the hell are you talking to?" asked Charlie the inpatient business man.

The Punisher paid him no attention and kept talking to Robbie on his headset while driving, "Where are you now?"

Charlie leaned in close and yelled into his ear, "Who are you talking to!"

Like a statue he continued to ignore him, "I'll come find you."

Fed up Charlie grabbed the headset and yanked it off The Punisher's head and threw it out the window. "Enough of this shit! You need to pay attention to driving and not yacking on the damn phone!"

Remaining unphased The Punisher pulled over to the sidewalk and unlocked the doors. Turning to Charlie, he said, "Get out."

"What? No! Get me to The Plaza first! I'm not putting up with anymore of your bullshit! I'm not going to get out until we are there!" Charlie was furious with a vein bulging on his forehead and a quivering lip.

"I can't take you any further. Get out now. You can call up another driver."

"Hell no! I'm not going to waste more time waiting for another ride. I'm already paying for this ride and I'm not leaving until you get me to the Plaza," Charlie sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. "If you want me out of your car then you're going to have to pull me out."

"Fine, have it your way," The Punisher shifted the car into drive and took off driving down the road.

Weaving through traffic the car accelerated to unsafe speeds. As he went through red lights and made sharp turns, he wasn't driving recklessly, but instead every move was planned out. The Punisher paid attention to the surrounding cars and gauged their speeds before changing lanes and making turns. Everything was calculated as he made risky driving choices.

This however didn't phase Charlie, he didn't care how The Punisher drove as long as he arrived at the Plaza. At first he felt a bit of relief since he thought that the ride would soon be over. However, after a few sharp turns he noticed that they were going in the wrong direction.

"Hey, the Plaza is in the other way! Where are you going? You're the worst driver ever!"

The back windshield shattered as Ghost Rider threw his chain threw it. The car whipped around as it sped up and weaved through traffic, making it difficult for him climb up the chain with his arms.

"Frank! Frank! Answer me!" Realizing that it was useless he pulled off the headset and threw it behind him as he climbed into the backseat.

Seeing that he now had a passenger Overdrive turned around with his gun in hand fired it twice at Ghost Rider only to have the bullets disappear into his leather suit leaving no trace. He shoved himself into the back of the driver seat knocking Overdrive forward onto the steering wheel. He quickly rebounded and fired blindly behind himself again. Ghost Rider wrapped his arm around the gun arm holding it in place and with the other arm he wrapped it around Overdrive in a head lock.

"Give me my car back!" He demanded.

"Fuck you!" Overdrive shouted back as he spun the steering wheel causing the car to slam into a dump truck on the left. The dump truck took no damage, but the driver of it slammed on it breaks and stopped. The Charger took considerable body damage with dents and scratches despite only shaking Overdrive and Ghost Rider. As the car continued to drive down the road. The damaged side shifted and came to life. The dent reformed into smooth surfaces and paint covered over the scratches as the car healed itself.

"I don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to and we both know I would win," Ghost Rider tried to reason. "So why don't you just surrender and so no one gets hurt."

"Not happening, I don't have a choice in what happens here," Replied Overdrive. "When Mr. Negative tells me to do something I'm bound by life to obey."

"Well maybe we can help you here. If you help me, I could go after Mr. Negative and relieve you of whatever control he has over you."

"He doesn't have any control over me. I fucked up, I'm a villain now and there is no turning back."

"Of course there is, it is never too late."

"I've already killed more than I can count. There is nothing left for me, but prison or death. Either way I'm going down fighting." Overdrive made a high speed sharp turn to the right making the car lean over on two wheels and for Ghost Rider to fall out of his seat and hit the side window.

Ghost Rider called upon his hellfire powers to burn hot and consume the driver seat and Overdrive. Unknown to him Overdrive's leather suit was fire proof, but not insulated to the heat. He was literally becoming hot under the collar as he sweated profusely. His skin may not been burned, but it felt as if it had been as the hellfire baked him. As it did with the damaging dents the car healed itself making it undamaged by the fire.

Making more dangerous driving choices Overdrive plowed the car into the windows of the lobby of an office building. Chairs and tables disintegrated as the car crashed into them. Flaming tire tracks where left behind as the car had become fully covered in the fire. Nearby walls and stairs caught on fire as Overdrive crashed it through rooms.

"You want this whole building to go up in flames?" Overdrive asked. "Think of the property damage and potential lives lost that could result if this fire continues to burn us?"

Realizing his hazardous mistake Ghost Rider drew in his hellfire from the car. However, he was powerless to absorb the fire that the car had left behind, which was fortunately put out by an overhead sprinkler system.

Leaving the office building Overdrive made a quick hairpin turn turning the car onto a one-way street into oncoming traffic. He drove fearlessly head first down the street towards a city bus full of passengers three blocks away.

"Get out of the car, before I plow into that bus killing everyone inside," Overdrive demanded.

Weighing his options Ghost Rider knew that he had to avoid putting innocent lives at risks, so he gave up fighting and released his grasp around Overdrive. Then slammed his elbow into the side window shattering the glass. Since there weren't any doors for the backseat he grabbed onto the roof of the car and proceeded to climb out of the car. However, Overdrive didn't pull over or even slow down. He continued to drive towards the bus full of people expecting Ghost Rider to jump out onto the fast-moving ground. Holding onto the roof Ghost Rider sat on the side of the door. He quickly swung his legs out only to swing them back in to kick the head of Overdrive knocking him out of the driver seat into the passenger seat so that Ghost Rider could climb behind the steering wheel. Once back in the driver's seat he veered the car to the left barely dodging the bus before it could hit them.

With Ghost Rider back behind the wheel the car reformed itself again. The tail fins melted away, the jet engine retracted into the trunk, and the charger returned to its normal muscle car form.

Regardless Overdrive wouldn't give up without a fight. He propped himself back up and pulled back his fist for a punch. Anticipating the punch Ghost Rider swung his arm to the right knocking Overdrive in the head. He tumbled over into the leg space of the passenger side.

Taking control of the car and slowing down, Ghost Rider knew that he had to quickly figure out where he was and find The Punisher. Looking at the center of dash where he had mounted his cell phone he saw nothing, but a blob of burnt plastic. He had mistakenly burned it up when he was trying to set fire to Overdrive earlier. Having only been in New York for only a month he was still learning to navigate the big city. He kept his eyes out for landmarks and street signs. One of which he recognized right away as Radio City Music Hall. Knowing that The Punisher was supposed to be driving in Hell's Kitchen he quickly made a sharp left turn onto 51st St.

Feeling relieved he let himself relax and calm down from the fight. That was quickly cut short as Overdrive shoved him face first into the driver side window. Then proceeded to stab him with a switchblade repeatedly in the neck. However the attack made no effect on Ghost Rider as the blade pierced nothing, but flames.

"What are you trying to achieve here?" Ghost Rider asked unphased by the stabbing. "I'm a skeleton covered in fire!"

With one hand he shoved Overdrive back into the passenger seat. Driving towards the center of town he was relieved as he saw The Punisher driving towards him in his Fiat. Maneuvering the Charger to be heading directly towards The Punisher he accelerated to fifty mph then suddenly slammed on the brakes launching Overdrive out of the passenger seat. Instead of shattering, the windshield rippled like a pond as Overdrive flew through it. With a thunk he landed on the hood of the Fiat. The Punisher sneered as it was now his turn to fight the villain.

Scrambling Overdrive struggled to hang on as he grabbed onto the edge of the hood. The struggle became more difficult as the windshield shattered as many bullets were fired upon him. Fortunately for him, his helmet and leather suit not only protected him from fire, but also bullets. However, the constant gun fire that pelted him stung and bruised his body.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" from back seat Charlie screamed. "Damn it, don't involve me in your crime spree!"

"Oh yeah, you're still in here. Hold on!" said The Punisher as they veered the car to left and drove up 6th Ave. towards the Plaza and central park.

As The Punisher tossed aside his empty submachine gun, Overdrive took advantage of the moment to reach forward and grab onto the steering wheel.

"Who the hell are you? Are you friends with fire boy?" Asked Overdrive.

"I'm The Punisher and you'll be dead soon," he answered.

"Oh really, I thought you were floral shirt man."

Fighting for control of the car The Punisher punched him in the head a few times. The powerful hits caused Overdrive to roll to the side over the hood. As he rolled he pulled the steering wheel with him making the car sway. The Punisher quickly grabbed back onto the wheel to correct the car's path. He struggled to maintain control as Overdrive jerked on the wheel in effort to get him to crash. It was difficult for The Punisher to see where they were going so he stretched his neck out to see over Overdrive. This left him open for Overdrive to reach and grab his neck and choke him. Needing to avoid crashing he held onto the wheel. As Overdrive tighten his grip around The Punisher's neck making it difficult for him to breath.

Seeing the Plaza hotel not far ahead, The Punisher hit the breaks and summoned the strength to turn the back seat to Charlie and say, "Get out now!"

Charlie didn't need to be told twice as he opened the door and ran out.

With the car parked The Punisher was able focus his efforts on fighting Overdrive. First, he tried push to him off of him, but Overdrive only squeezed harder. As his nails dug into The Punisher's neck he coughed and saw his vision go blurry. Knowing he was going to need to act fast with his right arm he pulled a submachine out from under the passenger seat. However, knowing that Overdrive's suit was bullet proof with his left arm he pushed up on his motorcycle helmet to pull it off. With his chin exposed The Punisher position the barrel of the gun right under it ready to fire. However unknown to him Overdrive pulled out a controller out of his pocket.

"Fuck Mr. Negative, I need to take care of myself," said Overdrive as he pressed a large red button on the controller.

Then out of nowhere a car slammed head first into the driver side of the Fiat.

The crash caused the airbag to inflate and knock The Punisher back into their seat disorientating him. It took him about a minute to regain his vision and for his ears to stop ringing. For a moment he forgot what was happening, but then it all came back to him. He remembered Overdrive on the hood, but he was no longer there. Then he remembered a car crashing into him, but it too was no longer there either. He still hadn't figured out what had happened, but he knew that he had to get out of the car. So he took off his seat belt, grabbed his submachine gun and stumbled out of the door.

As he stood there regaining his balance he heard the loud rumbling of a supercharged engine. Turning to the left he saw a large black truck with tall exhaust stacks, a blower, and a mean looking cow catcher, but most unsettling of all was that there was no driver inside. As the truck reeved its engine The Punisher aimed his gun at it and fired. That only made it mad as it charged towards him burning rubber behind it. The gun had little to no effect on the motorized beast, so The Punisher had to resort to running. Moving his legs as fast as they could carry him, he looked around for anything at could stop or slow down the truck, but there was nothing insight. It appeared to be able to tear through a brick wall.

Seeing a large fountain nearby it looked hopeless, but the water could slow the truck down or cause it to spin out. So with no other option The Punisher ran and jumped into it. The truck followed and plowed right through it. Smashing the stone sides and spilling out the water. He dodged to the right just barely avoiding being hit. After being splashed by massive wave of water he looked up to see the truck to break through the other side of the fountain only to spin around and face The Punisher once again. Aiming his gun again he thought they could try shooting out the tires, but that seemed desperate as the truck was moving too fast towards him.

"Get down!" they heard a yell from behind him and obeyed. Ducking down and turning he saw Ghost Rider throwing out his flaming chain out at the truck. The end of the chain attached to the cow catcher and he used it as a grapple to jump up onto the hood. The Punisher was running for his life as the truck chased after him with Ghost Rider on its hood. Grabbing onto blower peeking out from the center of the hood, Ghost Rider used all his strength to rip it off and break the engine. The truck made a horrible noise as it stalled out and gave up inches away from hitting The Punisher.

Gasping for air The Punisher stopped running and said, "Thank you, you came through in a pinch."

"Don't relax yet. We've got more problems," He point ahead of them at three more supercharged vehicles deadlier looking than the truck.

"Shit, how do we stop them?" asked The Punisher.

"Let me worry about them. Go after Overdrive. I saw him run into Central Park," He leaped off the truck and drew out his chain ready to fight the cars.

The Punisher took off running towards the park with his submachine gun in hand and a shit ton of anger in his heart. Once he was far enough away Ghost Rider turned his attention to the cars. With his chain and body igniting in hellfire he charged head first at the three monstrous cars. All three of them revved their engines and charged towards him.

"Come and get it!" Ghost Rider yelled out. "I am your lord Satan of the road! And you are nothing, but pathetic little toys!"

As he ran fearlessly towards them, he left burning hot foot prints behind him. Ahead of him a Jeep drove towards him with two compact cars on either side. Each one had large engines bursting out of their hoods and large thick tires. They sped towards him leaving big plumes of exhaust and smoke. As he ran closer he fell backwards to skid across the ground with his legs out in front of him to slide under the Jeep. As it passed over him, he punched at the gas tank with a fist full of hellfire. The car exploded and became airborne as it flipped nose first, falling back down onto the street. Ghost Rider walked out of the burst of fire unharmed.

Turning around he saw the other two cars spinning around in the distance to face him. Both cars faced him at ten o'clock and three o'clock ready to crash into him at the same time. This time instead of running towards them he stood his ground waiting for the cars to come at him. Whipping his chain around him, he created a ring of fire around him. As one car came at him about to crash into him he jumped off to the side and threw his chain back at its driver's side front wheel. Landing, he twisted around and pulled the chain back ripping the wheel off the car. The other car came driving at him. He spun around whipping the chain low close to the ground hitting the other cars tires and tearing their tires apart. Crippling the cars, he used his chain to destroy each one of the car's tires leaving them paralyzed in the streets with bare metal rims. Unable move, the cars revved their engines sounding like caged animals.

"Not so scary now, you gas sucking shit mobiles!" He yelled out in triumph.

His celebrating was premature as from behind he heard the roar of more cars and turned around to see five more remote controlled supercharged machines.

"Oh shit, well I guess its times for some more monster truck action," he said.

The Punisher ran through the park not knowing where Overdrive went or where to find him. Stopping to catch his breath, he looked around searching for him and saw no trace of him. At these early hours of the morning not many people where in the park, but they were all staring at him. Maybe he look crazy for running around with a submachine or something else, but he paid the people no mind as he continued to search for his nemesis.

Then suddenly he heard the rumble of a car behind him, but before he could turn around it was too late as a car hit his legs causing him to tumble backwards onto the hood of the car. The hood of the car carried him as it drove through the park back towards the Plaza Hotel. The Punisher's legs ached, but he pushed the pain out of his mind as he turned over to be face to face with Overdrive in the driver's seat. Knowing his submachine wouldn't affect him the stuck into the waist band of his pants and held onto the edge of the hood of the car.

Pulling his knife back out Overdrive thrust the blade at The Punisher. He was swift to dodge the strikes, but had to let go of the hood and grab back on as Overdrive attempted to swipe at his fingers. It was not long until Overdrive had to stop attempting to stab with the knife, because he had trouble steering the car with one hand and had to return both hands to the wheel. The Punisher looked at the passenger seat and saw sitting on it was a controller with a blinking red light on it. He figured out that the supercharged cars were controlled by an artificial intelligence, but this controller must have activated them. Before Overdrive could react, The Punisher rolled into the car and reached for the controller.

"No, don't!" said Overdrive he slammed on the brakes stopping the car in front of the Plaza hotel. The Punisher kicked him in the head and shifted the car into park. Grabbing the controller, he crushed it in his hands causing all the supercharge cars that Ghost Rider was fighting to suddenly stop and give up. Rolling back over he was faced with a knife inches away from his eyes.

"You're a dead man!" exclaimed Overdrive.

Knowing at any moment he could stab him The Punisher slowly covertly reached on hand behind his back to grab his submachine gun. Staring at the blade he was ready to pull out his gun as soon as he saw the sharp edge come closer. He knew that the leather suit was bullet proof, but the bullets would still cause him to drop the knife in pain if he shot his hand.

Suddenly saving his life yet again the Ghost Rider's chain flew out and wrapped itself around Overdrive's arm. With a yank Overdrive was pulled out of the car and onto the streets. Ghost Rider quickly wrapped his chain all around Overdrive restraining him.

The Punisher got out of the car, walked around him, and pulled off his helmet exposing his face.

"End of the line, Overdrive. We have you now," said Robbie as he returned to his human form.

"Let me go! You sons of bitches! I'll kill you!" Screamed Overdrive.

"So, what do we do with him? Hand him over to cops?"

"We kill him," answered The Punisher.

He fired his gun at the head of Overdrive, killing him.

"What the hell, man?!" shocked and enraged Robbie jumped back. "That wasn't necessary!"

"Punishment is necessary," replied The Punisher.

"You can't keep killing people. It's not right. There's supposed to be due process."

"Everyone has their own way to deliver justice. Some are just faster than others," The Punisher walked away towards his dented up Fiat.

"You know one of these days someone is going stop you from killing and take out their own form of justice out on you. What are you going to do then?"

Stopping in their tracks The Punisher thought for a bit then turned to Robbie and said, "I will say no."

Not far down the street Maylene and Bryn appeared walking up from the subway. They looked around in awe at the wrecked cars and damage from the battle.

"Wow, this shit looks brutal," said Maylene.

"Thanks for taking out the killer," said Bryn as they approached The Punisher. "I mean that you didn't have to kill him, but I'm glad that I no longer have to risk my life every night when I drive."

"It's what I do," said The Punisher. "Thanks for the help. I couldn't do it without you. Let me know if you ever need help again."

"You're welcome, and hey, let me know if you ever need a ride or help with other things."

"I'll see you around, good bye," said The Punisher before he got into his car and drove away.

After watching him leave Maylene turned to Robbie and said, "So you're the lord Satan of the road?"

"What you heard that?" replied Robbie feeling shocked and embarrassed.

"I sure did, you were pretty loud," Maylene held back her laugher.

"So where is Microchip? I was hoping he could help me clean up these remote controlled cars."

"Eh, who gives a fuck?"

Driving through the city as the sun rose, The Punisher heard his cellphone beep on his dashboard. Looking down at it he saw that he had never turned off their SwingAround app and a ride alert had appeared. With nothing else better to do he thought why not pick them up.

Once at the pick-up location near the west side of Central Park The Punisher unlocked the doors and let in a young teenage girl with facial scars carrying a small badger like animal in her hands.

"Are you Gabby?" The Punisher asked.

"Yeah, thanks for picking me up. There's not many drivers out tonight. I had to wait hours for a ride." Gabby said as she closed the door and put on her seat belt. She set the little furry animal down on the seat next to her.

"I don't let animals in my car. Unless they are service animals and I pretty sure they don't have service badgers."

"He's a wolverine and his name is James and he's my best friend."

"Do you parent's know that you play with wild animals?" The Punisher took the car out of park and pulled out onto the road.

"I was raised by wolverines," replied Gabby. "Now get going, I've got places to go, big man."

For a few seconds The Punisher didn't reply, but then said, "Don't call me 'big man'."

"Okay, what should I call you?"

"I don't know yet, but use they/them pronouns."

"Cool, why do you have a skull painted on the hood of you car?"

To Be Continued

Discalaimer: The Punisher, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes), Microchip, Overdrive, and Honeybadger (Gabby Kinney) are characters owned by Marvel comics. The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr. Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) was created by Felipe Smith and Tradd Moore. Microchip was created by Mike Baron and Klaus Janson. Overdrive was created by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez. Honeybadger (Gabby Kinney) was created by Tom Taylor, David Lopez, and David Navarrot. I, Christopher Kral, do not claim any ownership of these characters. This is a work of parody and I do not make any profit off of this written work.


	5. Chapter 5: Demons at Play Part 1

Punisher War Journal

(Temporary)

Entry 1

What appears to be Mid spring time 1970

What appears to be Camp Wilson in the Quang Nam Province, Vietnam

Nothing is right everything is wrong. I'm back in Vietnam, but I haven't been back here since 1971. It's been forty-seven years since I was shipped back home. Yet I find myself in Camp Wilson where I once served, but nothing is exactly as I remember. Something is wrong, but I can't tell what. Everything looks the way it did before, but slightly off. It's like entering a room after someone else was there and you can still sense their presence.

First thing I remember was waking up in my bunk at oh 0950 am. Normally I would awake at 0600 am to the sound of a bugle with the rest of the platoon. However they appear to have let me sleep in and have left me alone in the barracks while they were out and about in the surrounding camp.

No this can't be real. I'm supposed to be in Brooklyn New York, or at least I was last night. I live in a warehouse near the shipping docks. I went to sleep on a cot in my windowless safe room, with nothing but my alarm clock and electrified door knob. Now I'm awake in Vietnam.

This can't be a dream. Looking at my hands I see my cracked rough skin. As I close them into fists I feel my fingers touching my palms. Everything is real and tangible. I can feel pain and all of my senses work as they normally would. I'm awake.

I also look the same as I do now. I haven't deaged to when I was a soldier. I'm my same old weathered self. However I'm wearing my uniform camouflage pants, an undershirt, and my dog tags that I had back then.

Nothing makes sense. That is why I'm writing in this temporary war journal. I need to keep my thoughts straight. Waking up here is the last place that I wanted to be. Memories immediately started flooding back to me. Bad memories, memories that I've worked hard to forget. Memories of combat, murder, and injustice. I recall all of the fellow soldiers and allies that I fought along side and watched shot to death. I recall all of the North Vietnamese soldiers that I had to murder. All of the blood and the corpses. Before instinctively reaching for my gun, I instead reached for this notebook and began writing down everything that I could think of. I needed to keep my thoughts straight. I couldn't let my mind get lost in this place. I needed to keep track of all of the clues that I could find and put them together to find my answers.

How did I get here? Is this really Vietnam? Is it still 2018? Why does everything looks as it did back in 1970? Is this at all real? Who brought me here? Why am i here? There were a million questions, but I decided to keep it simple and record events as they happened and take note of my surroundings.

The Barracks appeared to be in order. All of the beds were made and all of the soldiers had their clothes and personal belongings put away in their trunks. However many of the soldier's liked to decorate the walls around their bunks with pictures of their family and naked women. My part of the wall only had two pictures on it. One was of me with my wife Maria and my daughter Lisa. The other photo was of my son Frank Jr. in Maria's arms. At this point I still hadn't seen him in person. He was conceived before I was shipped off to here. I missed out on the the first three years of his life. I never felt his tiny hand grab my finger, heard his first words, saw him take his first steps. When I came back from the war I made a promise that I would make up for lost time and spend as much time with him as possible and devote my life to insure that he would always smile and never have to suffer through trepidation like I did. Unfortunately after less than a year stateside I witnessed him shot to death in Central Park at age four. I never saw him go off to his first day of school, never saw him make any friends, graduate school, get a job, or start a family of his own. His life was ended before it even began. Why did they have to kill him? Because he just happened to witness a mob hit. How could men do that to a child? Those weren't men. They were demons made pure evil disguised as humans.

Get a grip of yourself Punisher. There is nothing I can do now. He's dead, I can't bring him back, I can't bring anyone back. I needed to focus on what was happening right then and there. They were just photos, I didn't even know if they were real, I didn't know if anything was real.

To take my mind off my son I moved my eyes up to the part of the wall that my bunkmate "Iceman" Phillips had decorated. He didn't have any family back home, nor did he have a girlfriend even though he would always tell me otherwise. He instead decorated his portion of the wall with playboy centerfolds. I can't remember what the models looked like back then, but I could tell that these were not the same centerfolds that he had pinned up before. These magazine pages were crisp and clean, not a single tear or crease. Looking around at the other photos and posters on the walls I noticed that they were all in the same condition. They appeared to be printed yesterday, not as if they had been folded up in soldier's back pockets, torn off walls during inspections, or been exposed to hot humid jungle weather.

"Hey, are you checking out my girls?" I nearly jumped as I heard Ice talking behind me. I didn't hear him come in here or his steps. I thought that I was alone in the barracks, but sure enough, as I turned around it was him standing at the end of the bunk bed like a hallucination made real. It was unsettling to see him again. We had met a few times after the war, but he was different then. Not like he is here and now, he still had sense and humor and optimism. When I later met him it was clear that he had never left the war. He had become a bounty hunter looking for any job that could bring back to the excitement of being at war. Right now, I mean here back in Vietnam he had a full beard and his hair was shaggy and grown out as much as possible before he would be forced to get a haircut. From here I could smell marijuana on him, later he would trade in that nasty habit for alcoholism.

"You wanna take her back to the bathroom? There's a new bottle of Jergens in there," he laughed. I cringed at his lewd suggestion.

"Did you get a new magazine?" I asked gesturing towards the centerfolds.

"Yeah, I got the pages of the old one all sticky." He grabbed my arm and led me towards the door. "Come on now we've been waiting for you all morning."

As he led me outside I could hear my fellow soldiers making noise. Some were exercising, either doing push up or running laps around the camp. Some were cleaning and maintaining their guns. However most were together in one large group smoking weed and socializing. They were fully suited up with all of their equipment ready to go out into the jungle. This brought back even more memories, but good ones instead. Exercising and running drills. Playing poker, receiving care packages from home, and listening to rock music. Then staying up late and sharing stories of back home. These were all memories that I had forgotten. However I knew that was all gone now. I'm no longer that same person and I'm unable to relive those memories.

Looking around the base I could see the signs that this place was fake. The paint on the barracks and the other buildings were fresh and not peeling. Also the windows were clean and not covered in dust. Off in the distance I saw the helicopter looking pristine and ready to fly, most of the time it had been in pieces in need of repair. The guard towers were only a few feet away from the vibrant lush jungle. After a month of coming here before, that jungle around the base was reduced to dead plants killed by gunfire and pollution.

As I walked closer to the crowd of soldiers I could hear them talking the same nonsense as usual.

"Later tonight we should go into town, and find one of them whores to love us long time," said Chad.

"Nah, I don't like those charlie bitches. They're too skinny for me. I need one with some fat for me to grab onto," replied Travis. "You know what I'm talking about right Frank?"

I was hoping that he wouldn't notice me, unfortunately he did and I had to engage with their bull session.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied, I knew exactly what he was alluding to, but I didn't want to acknowledge it.

"Oh come on, I know you like them girls with them childbearing hips. I've seen those photos of your wife," said that sick bastard with a smirk. I had to tense up my muscles to hold myself back from punching him.

"Shut up, about her! You scumbag!" I snapped back. Back then I would have ignore the comment and laugh along with him. It was a defense mechanism to adapt and seem like one of them. I would avoid doing anything that would counter their behavior. I didn't want to face more insults or for the other men to think less of me. I just wanted to be left alone. Now I realize that kind of act was pointless.

"Shit man, I'm just kidding. Take that rod out of your ass," taunted Travis

"Not funny, I'm not going to put up with your shit again!" I didn't care about keeping up appearances anymore. I was prepared to fight him right then and there.

I knew that he wasn't joking he really was a sicko. When I was here before, one night I learning that Travis had been visiting the nearby town for several weeks and propositioning the local sex workers, but he didn't pay them and left them in worse condition then he had found them. They were just poor women trying to make some cash and he treated them like objects for him to abuse. Later that night during his watchtower duty I decided to teach him a lesson and tied a noose around his neck. When I hung him from the tower, his neck didn't break, so I watched as he squirmed and choked for three minutes before I cut the rope and let him fall to the ground. I didn't have the heart in me to kill him that night, but I do now.

"Shut up guys, Sergeant Tea Party is coming back," Ice alerted us.

Travis and the rest of the soldiers all quieted, they went from being hooligans to trained dogs as they threw their joints under their boots, and lined up standing side by side with their eyes forward.

"Attention!" called Sergeant First Class Morrell as he walked up. There have been many sergeants that I've served under, however Morrell was the one that I've admired the most. He was rock, hard to crack and immovable. He never let his emotions appeared wavered and always remained calm. The other soldiers called him Sergeant Tea Party, because every few month's his daughter would send him a handmade teddy bear in a care package. He proudly displayed them on the desk of his office. They were made with care and looked nicer than the ones you can buy in a store. The other soldiers would often tease him. Regardless, he never showed emotion. He didn't even comment on it, and would let the soldiers call him Sergeant Tea Party. However one time Chad thought it would be funny to used one of the bears for target practice. When Morrell saw this he took Chad out back behind the latrine where the septic tank was backing up and made him do push ups in raw sewage for five hours.

"We've been waiting for you, private Castiglione. Suit up, we're going to be heading out in a half hour to clear out a North West section of the jungle." He ordered me.

"Sir, I can't today. I've a splitting headache and can't see straight. Can I have permission to go to the infirmary and see if Nurse Rockwell could help me?" I needed to stay here and learn what I could about this place. I wouldn't get any answers in the jungle.

"We could really use your help, but you'll be of no use to us if you ain't 100%," he let me go. "Go ahead, stay here and visit the infirmity and while you're their check on the soldiers in the sick bay for me."

Back in the day I would have jumped at the opportunity for a little action. Of course at first I had some apprehensions against killing, but after a year I saw the Vietnamese soldiers as nothing more than moving targets. I felt no remorse for killing them. The way I saw it, it didn't matter which side you were fighting on, if you signed up to fight in a war then you are ready to die. At the time I wasn't thinking about who was innocent and who was evil. I was misled into thinking that all communists were evil. My president was telling me that I was doing right by my country in fighting this war and was protecting the freedom of my family. However now I see how propaganda had been used to manipulate me. Regardless I don't regret the time I spent in the war. It helped make me the person that I am now and gave me plenty of practice for my war on crime.

Entering the the Infirmary I saw Nurse Nancy Rockwell sitting at her desk reading a medical book. She was older than most of the soldiers on this base and wise with age or at least that's what she claimed. Her amber hair was up in a bun and she wore horned rimmed bifocals. She was one of the few people on this base that I cared about, and a true friend.

I walked over and sat down in the small chair across from her desk. "Hello Nancy, I don't mean to disturb you, but I need your help."

"Oh hello Frank, how are you doing today?" She set her book down and smiled at me.

"Have you noticed any of the other soldiers not quite being themselves lately?" I knew how awkward sounding the question was, but I didn't know how else to ask it.

"I don't know what you mean. Private Mencia had a bit of heat stroke yesterday, but nothing else."

"No, I don't mean medically. Has anyone seemed a bit out of character?"

"No not at all, everything has been the same for the last few weeks," she looked directly in my eyes and smiled. She seemed so natural that it bothered me.

"I'm sorry nevermind. It's just that I'm feeling disoriented and I'm in need of a clear state of mind."

"Would you like some aspirin?"

"No thank you, how about a cup of coffee and a conversation."

"Sounds like the best medicine that any doctor could prescribe." Her cheeks became red with a warm glow. She stood up from her desk and walked over to the coffee machine on the table to the right of her.

"Black as always?" She poured the coffee into a Styrofoam cup.

"Yes, thank you."

She poured herself a cup too before returning to her desk and gave me my cup.

"I hope you don't mind, I put a sugar cube in yours. You deserve a little bit of sweetness," She blew into her cup before sipping it.

"Thanks," I had forgotten how much she thought about other people rather than herself. It created a knot in my stomach to talk to her. It was a painful reminder that I had never tried to reunite with her after the war had ended.

"Have you thought about what you are going to do after the war?" I asked.

She shrugged and answered, "I don't know, probably continue being a nurse. Perhaps get a position at an ER in a low income neighborhood in a big city. I could do some good help there. What about you?"

"I don't know, I just want to see my family again. I feel like I'm missing out on so much."

"Oh really, like what?" something sounded a bit condescending in her voice, but I couldn't figure out why.

"Well Lisa just started kindergarten. I could be teaching her how to read and write."

"Hm, enjoy it while it lasts. I just got a letter from my daughter yesterday saying that she's getting married."

"Congratulations."

"Don't congratulate me, this is stupid. She's nineteen years old and she's going to throw her life away by marrying some 'musician' with no ambition." Like I said, she never thought about herself, only other people. That was her greatest flaw.

"Not all musicians are failures. He could be the next Johnny Cash."

"Yeah, or the next Charles Manson." she rolled her eyes.

"I doubt that she's going to marry some lowlife. As long as you raised her right, she'll make the right choices."

"Like hell, in this day and age we don't raise our kids anymore. The media does. They don't listen to their parents anymore. They only care about what celebrities are saying and doing. You've got David Bowie wearing make up and dressing like a fairy and Janis Joplin being a slut in San Francisco. There are no good role models today." As she talked she waved her hands around then slapped one down on the desk rattling our coffee cups.

What had happened to her? I remembered her being so pleasant to talk to before. Was it me? Would I have agreed with her before? We could have had the same views. Although I think I liked the song "Piece of my Heart". It's just so hard to remember what I was thinking back then. I know I was a completely different person back then, but how much so? There must be something that we could still agree on.

"What about Captain America? When I was a kid he was a good role model for me. I thought that I could be the fearless soldier under the mask that he was. Now he's back from the Arctic alive again, fighting evil and standing up for the innocent."

"Now that's a real hero there. He remembers when men were men and women were women. Not like today with all of this free love and flag burning."

"I don't see how those two things are related."

"Of course they are related. Hippie music and bra burning will only lead to unpatriotic behavior. There's already queers in New York attacking cops and starting riots. They want to turn America into a communist nation."

"You're jumping to conclusions. Equal rights between genders and homosexual people are not the same thing as socialism. Just because someone's way of life is different from yours doesn't mean that they are destroying your way of life."

"You know Frank, you were asking me if anyone was acting out of character," she narrowed her eyes at me and raised one eyebrow. "I think it's you. You're different. What's gotten into you?"

"Help! Help!" we could hear someone screaming from outside.

Nancy and I quickly forgot about our conversation and ran outside. We were expecting the worst. A surprise attack by the north Vietnamese or just some random citizens wandering in here, that we wouldn't know if we could trust. Instead of both of those possibilities, what was actually happening was much worse. At the gate were three of my platoon that had left earlier. Sergeant Tea Party, Travis, and Chad where the only ones returning. They looked exhausted, tattered, and scared shitless. In each of their hands they were dragging the dead bodies of our fellow soldiers. One of which was Ice, he was lifeless and limp like a rag doll. His uniform was ripped apart and his torso sliced open with his guts hanging out.

This was wrong, all wrong. This had never happened when I was here before. This was completely insane. I couldn't understand why this was happening.

"Help! Help!" Travis continued to yell from the gate. Soldiers ran out from all parts of the base towards the gate. Racing to get it open. I stayed back with Nurse Nancy.

"They look injured we must help them!" Nancy shook with fear, but started to run towards them. I quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Wait, something's not right." I warned her.

As the soldiers opened the gate, Darren ran down from his guard tower.

"What had happened?" He asked.

"We were ambushed. We thought we were in a secured part of the jungle, but shots fired upon us from all sides. We were lucky to make it out alive," replied Sergeant Tea Party. His face was flushed and his eyes blank. He was in shock.

"Let me go, they need help!" Nancy jerked her arm away and ran towards them.

I looked at Sargeant Tea Party and we locked eyes. He said something, but I couldn't hear him over a loud whistle, but by reading his lips I could make out that he was saying "I'm sorry."

With a bang the dead bodies they were dragging exploded. Arm, legs, and other severed body parts went flying. Many of the soldiers were caught in the fireball. Like a tidal wave of hot air the force of the blast knocked Nancy off her feet causing her to fall to the ground. I ran to her aid, but then I stopped as I heard shots being fired. Nancy lifted her head looking around in confusion.

"Stay down!" I yelled. Then quickly I ran, and ducked behind a wooden crate nearby.

Peeking my head up to look at the front gate I saw the bodies of Sergeant Tea Party, Travis, and the others lying in flames. From the jungle machine guns fired in all directions. The Vietnamese soldiers used my comrades to follow them here to slaughter us all. Several soldiers ran out of the armory with guns in their hands. Blood burst out of their chests as bullets struck them. Then I heard a loud whistle again as a mortar fell from the sky and landed on the armory blowing it up. Instinctively I lifted my arms and closed my eyes to shield myself from the blast. As I opened them I found myself surrounded by a cloud of dust. Looking in the direction of Nancy, I could no longer see her. It was unsafe to go after her. I needed a gun to defend myself. It was unsafe to take one from one the fallen soldiers as the Vietnamese would likely fire upon me if I tried. Looking around I saw the helicopter several yards away, but there was nothing to provide coverage between me and it. If I ran fast enough I could make it. I could start it up, grab a M-60 machine gun that was mounted inside, use it for protection as I found Nancy, bring her back to the helicopter, and escape in it. The plan was risky, but I didn't have time to consider other options. So I took off running. Gun fire followed tearing up the ground behind me. My heart raced and my head pounded as I breathed heavily. As I came closer to the helicopter I heard a mortar whistle through the air. I stumbled as I abruptly tried to stop myself and fell to the ground as the helicopter exploded. Shattered pieces of hot metal flew past me and the blast disoriented me.

I lied on the ground for a few seconds before I could lift me head again. My skull felt heavy and a loud ringing in my head made it difficult for me to focus. The nearby burning remains of the helicopter scorched my skin. I wasn't on fire, but I would be cooked if I had continued lying there.

As I quickly raised myself, I tipped over the M-60 that had been thrown from the helicopter as it exploded. I picked it up and found it to be intact and loaded with a 1000 round drum magazine. Lucky me, this was my favorite gun. It felt good to hold it in my arms again.

It took me a minute to realize it, as the ringing sustained from my ears, but it was silent. I hadn't heard gun fire or explosions for the last couple minutes. Looking back to the jungle I saw the Vietnamese emerging from it, walking cautiously with their guns in hand. There is no point in playing safe and hiding. With a squeeze of the trigger I unloaded a hundred bullets at them cutting them in half like a buzzsaw. I felt the painful sting the gun stock as it punched me in the shoulder over and over with a hundred pounds of force. It felt good.

Several bullets flew by my head from the left just missing me by inches. Turning I saw several more Vietnamese soldiers shooting at me from behind the fence. Within a few seconds of holding the trigger, they were dead.

Looking around the base I saw the bodies of dead soldiers all around. Many of the buildings and vehicles were smoldering in flames. The only living person that I could see was Nurse Nancy in the middle of it all. She was lucky to still be alive. However not far away many Vietnamese soldiers were coming in through the gate. Their insides became their outsides as I fired at them. As they fell the dust settled and nearby I could see Sergeant Tea Party rise up to a crouched position. Covered in blood and with an uniform in tatters he was rather worn for the wear.

"Frank, over here!" he yelled out to me and waved his arms.

Running towards him I passed Nancy and told her to stay where she was. As I reached Sergeant Tea Party I could see that he had been struck by shrapnel and burned all over his body, but he hadn't caught a bullet or sustained an injury that would need extensive medical attention.

"Thank God that you're still alive," he said. "I knew that if anyone would survive this ambush it would be you."

"We need to move fast and get you someplace safe so that Nancy could operate on you," I said as grabbed him by his arm and lifted him up to be standing.

"Help, Travis he's still alive too," said Sergeant Tea Party.

Turning to the left I saw Travis lying on the ground also covered in shrapnel and burns. He raised himself to a sitting position and smiled at me.

"Hey frank, ol' buddy," He smiled before I shot him right between the eyes.

"That's for talking about my wife," I whispered under my breath.

"What the hell?! We could have saved him!" Tea Party yelled and slapped me.

I shrugged off the hit and said back to him, "It was a mercy killing. He was bleeding out his subclavian artery. He would have been dead if he moved from this spot."

From the jungle we heard yelling and saw several Vietnamese soldiers emering out of it.

"Whatever, we need to get out of here!" yelled Tea Party as he struggled to start running.

With a BURRAAP! I shot at the Vietnamese before running off. At this point the gun fighting was catching up to me and my body was feeling tired, but I pushed on. As we ran past Nancy she joined us in running towards the barracks. We would be safe there and attached to it was Tea Party's office where he kept a small first aid kit.

"GWWWAAAA!" Tea Party yelled as he was stuck in the back by a bullet. He didn't fall, only stumbled as Nancy caught him and held him as they continued running. I turned around and returned fire.

"Go on without me I'll finish them off!" I yelled as I stood my ground. They needed to survive not me. I'm just a soldier, I signed up to die. I held back the trigger and watched the enemy soldiers fall to the ground as they emerged out of the jungle. At this point they where coming from all sides and surrounding the base. This wasn't just a simple ambush this was a full on high scale attack. They wouldn't retreat until the base was fully annihilated. However I would never give up. I continued firing and killing each one of them as soon as they appeared. The barrel of the M-60 was becoming hot as hell and glowing red. If I continued to fire, the bullets wound jam up and leave the gun useless. However I ran out of bullets before that could happen. I threw the dead chunk of metal to the ground and grabbed a AR-15 off of a nearby corpse. As I continued to kill I felt my heart pounding threatening to burst. Sweat poured from my body and my breathing was heavy like a gorilla.

 _Calm down, stay focus._

Bullets barely grazed my back. I was becoming sloppy. I wasn't paying attention to my blind spots. Spinning around I killed more.

 _Control yourself, you can survive this._

Less and less enemies were appearing and I was running out of targets. I couldn't let up. I needed to kill them all. Scanning the jungle I fired back not knowing if anyone was there. Running out of bullets I dropped the AR-15 and picked up another one.

 _Stop, settle down Punisher. Don't get lost in there._

Pausing for moment, I put the gun back down and realized that the jungle was still and unmoving. The fighting was over for now.

I stood still and slowly counted to ten and calmed myself.

Running into Tea Party's office I found him lying on the ground with Nancy crouched down over him with the first aid kit. He strained his body as he gasped for air and lifted his head to see me. I could tell that he wanted to say something to me, but he didn't have the strength to speak. Shaking he raised one arm and reached to his nearby desk which he had several of his daughters teddy bears sitting on. I picked up the one in the middle for him. It was made to resemble his daughter with a frilly dress and yellow sun hat. He took it into his hands clutched it close to his chest.

"I can't help him with this first aid kit," said Nancy with a sense of urgency in her voice. "We need to move him to the infirmary."

Tea Party's body felt limp as I lifted him up on to my shoulders.

"No, leave me," He whispers into my ear, but I pretended not to hear him.

I poked my head out first before leaving the office, but the based remained still. There was no sign of the Vietnamese soldiers still alive outside. Once I was satisfied that it was safe I carried Tea Party to the infirmary with Nancy following behind me.

Once inside I gently placed him down on a operating table, but he was no longer conscious yet his left hand still grasped the teddy bear. Nancy hastily wheeled over a set of over head lights and a cart of medical instruments. I checked the gunshot wound in his back to find it still bleeding steadily. Then I placed two fingers below his chin, but I couldn't find pulse. He couldn't have been dead yet. He must have still had a weak pulse. I just couldn't find it. I couldn't let him die because of me. If I had gone with him and the rest of platoon like I had done before, this wouldn't have happened. I could have saved them all.

"Stay back," Nancy shoveled me out of the way. "I need to operate on him!"

With her bare hands she ripped his bloody uniform off his motionless body. I could tell that she was panicking, but she still held a scalpel with a steady hand as she cut his skin and started slicing down his chest along the sternum.

"Wait, what are you doing? The bullet struck him in his back!" I questioned her.

"I'm a nurse! I know what I'm doing!" She yelled back at me. Something was wrong, she wasn't acting like herself anymore.

With both hands she dug her fingers into the slit in Tea Party's chest and with a jerk of her arms she tore the skin off his rib cage. With a sweaty forehead and arms covered in blood she grabbed a bone saw off the cart.

"Stop! You've gone mad!" I grabbed her by her arms from behind and pulled her back. Like a maniac she struggled and wiggled in my arms trying to break free. "You're not thinking right! You've killed him! Calm down!"

She didn't listen to me and only fought harder. With the bone saw she slashed at my hip and left a nasty gash. I tighten my grasp around her and shook her, but she continued to slash at my hip each time cutting me deeper and deeper. Blood sprayed out and with every slash my leg stung. Finally I let her go to try to grab the bone saw away, but she was too fast and ran back to Tea Party on the table. She immediately started hacking at his rib cage with the saw and blood sprayed up. I ran up behind her, but before I could pull her back again a bloody lung hit me in the face blinding me. The fleshy bag caught me off guard and disoriented me. It took me a minute to wipe the blood from my eyes. As I was able to see again, I witnessed as Nancy shoved Tea Party's teddy bear into his chest and sew him back up. I couldn't let this insanity persist any longer.

I shoved Nancy down to the ground. I didn't care if I hurt her, she was beyond saving now.

"Hey Frank, what is wrong," Tea Party's corpse came back to life. He lifted himself off the operating table. His chest with sewn up with crooked stitches, his eyes had rolled to the back of his head, and his flesh hung off his body as if blood was no longer pumping through it.

It was impossible for him to be alive again. I watched as my friend murdered my commanding officer and he came back to life.

"What is this? What did you do to him?" I looked down at Nancy lying sideways on the floor with her hair in a mess covering her face. She shook all over her body and with one hand she swiped her hair off her face to reveal her eyes glowing red. For a moment she tried to get up, but instead she fell backwards and rolled onto her back and laughed hysterically.

"She saved me and brought me back to life Frank," Tea Party walked closer to me like a zombie.

I wasn't afraid, but I started walking backwards towards the door. He continued to walk towards me, shuffling his legs. Unable to tell if he was a threat I made a fist. I didn't want to fight him, but I needed to protect myself. With a right hook I punched him across the face. He twisted his head around, but didn't stop walking towards me. Behind him Nancy continued to laugh uncontrollably. It felt unreal like a nightmare, but I was seeing it all with my own eyes.

As I continued to walk backwards and I went out the door. Exiting the infirmary I turned around to see the bodies of my platoon and Vietnam soldiers rise up from the ground and come to life. They were all dead with bloody bullet holes and burnt skin yet they were all moving again towards me. I needed someway to defend myself. I needed a gun.

There was no time to think. I just needed to go for the closest one.

Three soldiers come to life nearby. Their names were Todd, Buckley, and Robert. Buckley had an AR-15 hanging from a strap on his right arm. I grabbed it and tried to pull it off his arm, but he wouldn't give it up without a fight. He held onto gun starting a tug-a-war. By twisting his arm around and slamming my elbow into his head I was able to free the gun away from him. As soon as I did Todd jumped on me and clasped his hands around my neck, strangling me. I shove the barrel of the AR-15 right into his belly and squeezed off three shots. The bullets exploded out his back. Robert came up behind me and bit down on my shoulder. Turning around I jabbed an elbow into his jaw. I was about to shoot him up too, but that would have been a waste of bullets when I noticed that he had a grenade attached to the front of his uniform. So I pulled out the pin and kicked him in the chest. Quickly I ran back into the infirmity to be safe from the blast.

Peaking my head out I saw that there was now hundreds of undead American and Vietnamese soldiers all posing a threat to me.

An AR-15 is a good gun, but it wouldn't satisfy. If the armory wasn't blown up I could have gotten another M-60 and more ammo from there and maybe even a grenade launcher. I felt like I was out of options, but then I remembered that we kept a full arsenal with the jeeps in the back along with an anti-tank gun mounted on the back of one them. There wasn't any way to get to them from outside. It would be too far to run and there was too many of them. I was going to have to run through the back of the infirmity.

Going back in Sergeant Tea Party jumped out at me, attacking me again. I shoved him off of me and aimed the AR-15 at him, but I hesitated. I had to close my eyes and remind myself that he wasn't who he looked like anymore, before I could shoot him.

I couldn't waste anymore time as many of the undead soldiers started funneling into the building coming after me, so I took off running to the back. Passing by Nancy she was still lying on the ground laughing at me. A few of the soldiers that had been resting in the sick bay had crawled out of their beds and were reaching out with arms trying to trip me. I was able to quickly maneuver past them to the back of the infirmity where was a small window for me to shoot out and jump through.

Once out back I found my big gun. Only ten feet away from was the jeep with an anti-tank gun, with five cartridges, a few AR-15s, a couple of survival knives, and a M2A1 flamethrower in back. I could feel the drool on my chin.

Before I could steal my arsenal I had to check my wounds. The deep cuts on my hip where still bleeding. I didn't have time to clean and stitch them up so I just tied a rag around it. The places where bullets had grazed my body had already stopped bleeding, but stung like hell. On my shoulder where Robert bit me was aching, but not bleeding, they were only teeth marks and I don't think that these were the kind of zombies that infected people.

I opened up the valves on the M2A1 flamethrower and gave a little squeeze to the ignition safety catch and trigger and the firing catch and trigger. A burst of fire flew out twenty feet. Everything seems to be ship shape condition so I threw it on my back. I attach the two survival knives to either sides of my belt and throw the straps of two the AR-15s over my shoulders. With masking tape I wrapped two magazines together for each of the AR-15s for quick reload.

Inside the glove box I found the keys to the jeep, a tube of camouflage face paint, and a bandanna. I used the face paint to draw a skull onto my tank top. Then with the bandanna tied around my head the look was complete and I was ready to roll.

I drove around the front of the barracks and scream out at the top of my lungs, "Come and get it!"

That caught the attention of all of the undead soldiers and they started walking towards me. There was more than I had remembered, there must have been at least three hundred of them. They all looked different and unrecognizable now. With their arms hanging limp and mouths hanging open. Blood oozed out their wounds and some had entrails dangling from their midsections. They were zombies, which was good thing. It meant that I wouldn't feel any grief for killing them.

After climbing in back, I loaded a cartridge into the anti tank gun, jerked into position, locking my sights on a large crowd of them, and with a thunderous bang I fired the cannon. The whole jeep shook and the recoil moved through my whole body shoving me back, but I held onto handles of the gun. It was painful, but it felt invigorating.

The crowd of zombies exploded with a dusty cloud. Their bodies flew through the air and landed on the ground with a thud.

As a horde of zombies converged on me I loaded up another cartridge and lined up the sights on another crowd of them. The second time I fired it, I was ready for the recoil and it wasn't as painful, but I felt a rush of blood go to my head and my arms felt numb. Another dust cloud scattered a heap of body parts everywhere.

Once the third cartridge was loaded I looked around for another crowd to explode. Unfortunately the zombies were spaced out and no longer in moving crowds. The most I could kill together would be two or three. I needed to make that shot count so I fired the cannon at the legs of nearby watchtower. It slammed down on the ground crushing several zombies.

This didn't slow them down. Some moved around the fallen tower while others climbed through it. It's a shame that they were now too close for me to fire off the final cartridge.

Jumping out of the jeep with my hands of the triggers of the AR-15s I dispensed bullets picking off zombies climbing through the tower and walking around the sides. Running quickly and holding down the triggers, I cleared a path to move to the front of the tower where there was plenty of space for me to use the flamethrower.

Letting go of the AR-15s I let them hang from their straps and pulled the gun part of the flamethrower off my back and aimed it out in front of me. As I did when testing it I squeezed the ignition catch and trigger then the firing catch and trigger creating a large fireball. I swept it from the right to left lighting up bodies as it goes. They didn't scream, instead the bodies crackled like a wet log on a fire. The smell of burning diesel mixed with smell of burning flesh creating an odor that oddly calmed me. My muscles relaxed and the tension in my forehead went away. Slowly I moved through the camp setting fire to the many bodies, but after forty seconds all of the fuel was used up.

Undoing the buckles I let the tanks fall off my back. They are nothing, but dead weight. I took the magazines out of the AR-15s and flipped them around to attach the unused magazines that I had taped on. There weren't much zombies left, probably only several dozens. Regardless I couldn't waste bullets. Firing at their heads, I made each shot count. The bodies moved slowly and constantly towards me, making them easy targets. I was able to take them out one shot at a time, however it wasn't long until I ran out of bullets and more zombies where still coming after me.

 _Stop, you're letting the illusions control you_

With all of the bullets spent, I dropped the AR-15s to the ground and resorted to my last line of defense, the survival knives. Taking them out of their sheaths and charging towards the nearest body. With one swipe I slashed him across the neck and took a few steps away. I had expected him to fall to his death, but instead he kept moving. Normally when you cut the carotid artery blood sprays out, but instead blood slowly seeped out of his neck wound, probably because his heart was no longer beating. Which meant that I had to get nasty with these last few zombies.

Charging back at the zombie I stabbed it through the eye making it lifeless again. Stabbing the brain worked effectively, however from previous experiences I have learned that the human skull is quite strong and can damage a knife if you strike it directly. In killing the next few zombies I was careful in stabbing them by sending the knives into eyes and ear holes. Unfortunately this meant that I had to get close to them, giving them the opportunity to bite and claw at me.

 _Look past the lies, it's all fake_

Five zombies mobbed me at once. I took one out with stab to the nose, but it got stuck in the cartilage preventing me from pulling it out. As I struggled to pull out the knife, one zombie grabbed my arm and bit it. Another came at me from the other side and grabbed at my neck. I hastily stab at the head of one biting me, but as I strike the head my wrist buckled from hitting the hard skull. I twisted around to stabbed the other zombie, but my arm was stopped by another zombie falling on that arm. Yet another zombie climbed on my back and pulled me down. I struggled to stay standing and I gritted my teeth. With a grunt I broke free and head butted the zombie on my arm. With the free knife arm I stabbed the strangling zombie in the side of his head. Savagely I spun around knocking down the zombie that was behind me and stabbed it several times in the head. I didn't care about where I was striking the knife anymore. All that mattered was killing.

 _You need to control yourself, or else it will consume you_

The last zombie came at me and I stabbed at it until it stopped moving. Once finished I looked at the knife and found it to be chipped and bent up making it useless.

Feeling exhausted and in pain I fell to the ground and rested. My arms and shoulders throbbed where I had been bitten. The rag around my hip was soaking wet with blood. The scratch marks stung and I was aching all over, but it was nothing that a little bit of relaxation wouldn't heal. Breathing heavy I let my heart rate slow down and my tense muscles relax.

 _Don't let your guard down, this isn't real_

Slowly they came back to life and crawled towards me. I was too weak and tired to fight them. They grabbed at me and their many arms held me down. They were no longer soldiers or zombies. This time they looked even more different. Their skin was gray and pulled tight across their muscles. Their eyes glowed red and little horns had grown on their heads. I tensing up my muscles as I struggled to break free, but they held me down and started to pull me into the ground. I found it hard to breath as dirt covered my face and body. It wasn't long before everything became black as I was pulled deeper and deeper into the ground…

Frank…

Frank…

Frank…

I could hear a gentle voice call my name. The voice was sweet and familiar. It was a voice I hadn't heard in a long time.

I lurched awake in bed. Soft linen sheets fell off my body. Looking around I saw that I was in a bedroom. I was no longer in pain. I felt relaxed and refreshed. I must have been out for a long time.

"Are you okay? You were having a nightmare."

Turning to the left I saw her, my wife, Maria.

To be continued

Judgement Skull Chapter 5.5 Meanwhile Back In Manhattan Part 1

While driving around Manhattan for the SwingAround app, Bryn always hated picking up rides in Times Square. It was always too crowded and hard to find a place to park and pick people up. Also there's always too many people calling for rides from there, it's hard to tell who's the right person to pick up. That's why it's so important to Bryn to confirm who their ride is and where they are going or else they could pick up the wrong person and end up with a bad rating. After waiting for five minutes and having to turn away two people coming up to their car thinking that they were their driver, Bryn's ride finally climbed into the back seat.

"You Fort Wenty?" Asked Bryn.

"Yeah, can you leave quick. I'm trying to keep a low profile," said their ride. He was a young man in large blue raincoat. As he got in he took of his wet backpack off and placed it on his lap.

"You know you can use your real name. SwingAround isn't going to share you information with anyone else." Bryn checked their mirrors and pulled out into traffic.

"Yeah whatever, I'm not taking my chances after that security breach that you guys had last month," he scoffed.

After several minutes of driving in uncomfortable silence Bryn spoke up. "So, do you want me to go through the drive-in when we get to the McDonalds?"

"No, stop out front. We need to pick up my friend," replied Fort. "Also could you turn up the heater. I'm fucking freezing back here."

Once parked in front of the McDonalds they waited for five minutes in an even more uncomfortable silence.

"Are you sure he wanted-" Bryn started.  
"He's gonna be here just wait." Fort quickly interrupted.

Bryn kept the engine running as they waited another three minutes until another young man got into the back seat of the car. He was also wearing a large raincoat, but was more heavyset.

"Okay, so the Manhattan Mall next?" the two men ignored Bryn as they immediately started talking to each other.

"Damn it, Darren where were you? I had to wait with this creep for ten minutes." Complained Fort.

"Whatever man, you got the shit?" he asked.

"Yeah, check it out. We're going to make out like gangsters." Fort unzipped the front pocket of his backpack and showed it to Darren.

"What the fuck is this shit?" Darren exclaimed then he looked Bryn and whispered to Fort. "This isn't the usual shit we sell."

"Silly Blood, man. It's what's driving all of the kids wild now days. I tried some last night and it was like that anime Paprika. Crazy as fuck."

"Quite, we probably shouldn't be talking about this in front of her." Darren cocked his head towards Bryn. "It's a she right?"

"Don't worry, she doesn't care as long as she wants to get paid she'll mind her own fucking business."

Bryn didn't like being misgendered. It made their skin crawl. However they thought that maybe they should give the two men the benefit of doubt. Maybe the men didn't realized that Bryn was agender. So they loudly cleared their throat and tapped their fingers on the "They/Them" pronouns sticker that they had on their dashboard.

The two men stopped talking and turned to Bryn, then looked at the sticker.

Fort whispered something to Darren. Bryn couldn't understand what he was whispered, but Darren responded with a snicker.

"Hey, you know-" Bryn started to speak up, but was interrupted.

"What? You have something to say?" Fort scoffed.

Bryn cowardly quited. They didn't want to start an argument, besides their destination wasn't far away. They weren't going to let the men to ruin their day. Yet the men continued to whisper and snicker to each other. Feeling agitated Bryn tightened their grip around their steering wheel and tensed their shoulders. Constantly glancing at the map on their phone they counted down the blocks until their destination and reminded themselves that they can give the men an one star rating so that they will never see them again.

After what felt like hours of being stuck in traffic, but in reality was five minutes they arrived at the JcPenney's entrance for the Manhattan Mall.

"Thanks for the ride ma'am," Fort held out a crisp five dollar bill to Bryn.

"You can just tip with the app," They didn't want to take the money. To them taking the bill was like a sign of accepting defeat. Also there was no way of know where the money come from. It could be covered in drugs or counterfeit. Either way they didn't want to be caught using it.

"I don't know how to use that thing. Besides people now days just don't understand the courteously of giving a tip in cash," Fort smiled like a devil. Bryn had no choice, but to submit and take the five dollars. Once the money had been exchanged the men left.

Bryn pulled away from the curb, but instead of joining traffic again they made a hard right turn to drive into a parking garage, causing other cars to slam on their brakes and honk their horns. Bryn was too mad to care. They just wanted to park the car and relax their frustrated mind.

After finding a spot to park, they gave Fort Wenty a one star rating and turned off the app. They couldn't bear to give another ride today. After getting out of the car they opened the back door to see if the passengers had left anything behind. They found the backseat speckled with a white powder. Taking out their phone they tired taking a picture of the back seat so that they could report the men, but the powder wasn't visible enough to be seen by the camera phone. Bryn instead decided to call the police, but once they opened the phone app their finger froze over the nine button. They didn't want to speak to another stranger today. Also it would take the police thirty minutes to get to the parking garage. A few hours of questioning and examining the car. Several days to analyze the white powder if it was drugs and after that it'll take them weeks maybe months until they track down Fort and Darren. All of that time would be a waste. Also Bryn didn't know for sure that Fort was actually a drug dealer. He could have just been an asshole.

Bryn got back in their car and contemplated driving to a gas station to clean their car, but then noticed a Fiat drive by in the garage. It wasn't the same color, but it reminded Bryn of the Fiat that The Punisher had driven a month ago when they assisted him in tracking down a serial killer. They remembered how they looked up to him for being so confident and not second guessing himself. For a moment they asked themself "What would The Punisher do?" of course the answer was kill those two guys, but Bryn knew that they needed to think more reasonable. They then realized that no one was going to help them and they needed to find and confront those men on their own and bring them to justice.

Charging out of the parking garage they ran across the street again making cars slam on their breaks and honk their horns. People on the sidewalk stood out of the way and stared as Bryn ran through the entrance to JcPenney's. Once inside they slowed down to a calmer pace as they looked around for the men. They avoided the aisle ways moved through the clothing racks as they moved through the store.

They didn't have a plan or a strategy for finding the men, but after moving through the store for five minutes they figured that they already left it to adjoining mall floor. The place was large and crowded, finding the men was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Bryn realized that it was impossible to search each store individually and that it would be best to stay out and search the mall one floor at a time. Running past the stores they quickly peaked through the entrance of each one to see if the men were inside. _'If I was a drug dealer where would I shop? Spencer's? Hot Topic? Build-a-Bear Workshop?'_ They thought to themself.

After searching the mall for about a half hour they spotted Fort and Darren outside a toy store across from them. There was a large crowd in between them, but Bryn made their way quickly through it, pushing and shoving people out of the way. However they stopped as they heard a familiar voice call them.

"Bryn! Bryn!," A young blonde haired skinny girl ran up to Bryn. The sound of her voice made them grinned their teeth. "That is calling yourself now isn't right?"

"Oh hey, Staci," They didn't want to stop and talk to her, but they also didn't want to be rude and keep running.

Staci cornered Bryn and stood between them and the two men.

"Oh my God, it's so funny running into you here. I haven't spoken to you since your gender change, transformation, or whatever. I have to say that you are so brave for what you're doing. However it must be easier for you as a Buddhist and not in one of those religions that hate trans."

As Staci talked non stop Bryn stretched their neck out to look around her. From there they could see the men standing in front of the toy store looking at people passing by as if they were waiting.

"It's too bad that you had to leave the soft ball team. You were so good, you swung a bat like a man. We could have called you Enby Ruth. Haha, get it. I hope it's okay that I made that joke. Of course it is, you know me, I'm woke."

Bryn stood up on their tiptoes to see the two dealers as they stopped a young boy and started talking to him, but then a few people moved in front of them obscuring Bryn's line of vision.

"What happened with you and Divya? Did she break up with you because you're agender? That is so shitty of her. I'm going to yell at her the next time I see her."

"Shut up," Bryn interrupted. "First off the word is transition, second being a Buddhist doesn't make it easier, third my gender isn't a joke, and fourth… mind your own business! And get out of my way!"

Staci was startled and shocked as Bryn pushed her out of the way and ran through the crowd. As they ran they snatched an umbrella from a woman and raised it over their head.

Once they reached the dealers they slammed the umbrella down onto Fort's head. In pain he crouched down and held his head.

"Hey, what the fuck!" Darren swung a fist at Bryn, but they ducked and hit him across the knees with the umbrella. As he bent over, they swung the umbrella up sending the tip right into his nose.

Turning around they hit Fort in the stomach three times until he turned around to protect himself. However Bryn stopped when they noticed that he was no longer wearing the backpack.

"Stop it! Why are you beating us up?!" yelled Fort.

At this time a large group had gathered around them with their phones out watching them, but Bryn didn't care as they yelled back at Fort, "Where are the drugs? What did you do with the backpack?"

"We gave it to the kid to sell to his friends," Still crouched down Fort pointed at the boy running through the mall several stores away.

"Hey, kid stop!" Bryn yelled as they took off chasing after the boy.

"Freeze, stop running," A security guard came up running up behind Bryn.

This only made them run faster as they caught up to the boy in front of a television store. They grabbed on the handle on the top of the backpack. Janking the boy and causing him to fall to the ground, Bryn pulled the backpack off him.

"Ouch, that hurt you jerk!" the boy cried while rubbing his head.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want to hurt you, but-" Bryn stopped mid sentence as they looked up at the store front which had four TV in display window. The Punisher's face as on all four of the TVs.

Bryn stood in shock as the security guard grabbed them and tried to pull them away, but they wouldn't budge as they watched the TV screens.

"Frank Castle better known as The Punisher was found dead today in a warehouse in the shipping docks of Brooklyn New York."

To Be Continued


	6. Chapter 6: Demons at Play Part 2

Punisher's War Journal

(temporary)

Entry 1

April 29, 1973

Queen's New York

It's happened again and I don't know why. I have awoken in a different point in my life with no knowledge of how and why. This time it's worse than before, I have awoken in the bed that I once shared with my wife Maria in our home in Queens New York back in 1973. She was lying right there looking the way I had remembered her.

"Frank are you okay?" she asked. Despite having just woken up she looked me with wide blue eyes as if I was a ghost. I looked back her the same way not knowing how to respond.

"Frank you were having a bad dream. Are you okay?"

"Maria…" I was unable to speak another word. I felt shocked holding my body still. Looking at her beautiful face I had to remind myself that she couldn't be real, even though I wanted her to be. Just like before when I awoke in Vietnam, all of this had to be fake. Someone was toying with me. Any moment she would turn into a monster and attack me. I couldn't let myself fall for any tricks. However part of me wanted to go with the dream and relive the life that I had with her, but I couldn't after what I've seen and done. After the many men that I have killed, I am no longer the man that she had fell in love with.

"Frank, answer me. Is something wrong? Where did you go last night," her face changed from concern to a scowl. She immediately begun putting me on trial. "Where you out drinking again? You better not be starting fights in bars again."

"I wasn't, I was…" I started, but I didn't know how to finish that sentence. I couldn't remember what else I could have been doing. Back when I came back from the war I had a hard time getting used to living a conventional life. I tried to repress certain emotions with alcohol, but I felt craving for adrenaline fueled moments so I made those moments happen.

"Come on, Frank. You can talk to me. You don't need to release your frustrations by getting in fist fights with the local drunks. I'm here… I was here last night taking care of the kids, waiting for you, not knowing if you'll come home."

"Maria, I'm sorry, I…" I trailed off again. I forced my mind to remember that she wasn't real. Despite looking the same, sounding the same, and smelling the same, she couldn't be real. I couldn't let her be real.

I couldn't think straight, I needed to get away from her to get my thoughts straight. I slid over and placed my feet on the ground and stubbled to get out of bed. My mind was spinning. I reached out to the end table to stable myself, but as I did I touched a slick plastic pamphlet and my hand slid off. I had to spin around to maintain my balance.

"What are you... " Maria stopped mid sentence as she looked down at the pamphlets that had fell from the end table.

"Frank, what are these?" She picked up and looked at the pamphlets.

"Is this where you were last night? Where you getting help?" She held out one of the of the pamphlets. Written across it was the words _Healing the wounds of war: A veteran's support group._ I didn't remember anything about this from before, but I decided to go with it.

"Yeah, some of my old platoon members invited me and I figured it was a better way to spend my time than dealing out black eyes at Vinnie's."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she returned to expressing concern. "I didn't mean to accuse you of fighting. It's just when you're out late I expect the worst."  
She climbed out of bed and hugged me. As I felt her warm soft body against mine it made me weak. The world around us fell away. There was only her and me. I was no longer the Punisher. I was just Frank Castiglione again. Just a normal father and husband, but none of that was true. Being in her arms again will not erase the hundreds of murders that I have commited and the blood that I've spilled. What would she do if she learned about what I have been doing for last forty-five years?

"I have to take a shower," I pushed her off of me. "The kids are probably awake now, go take care of them."

"Oh yes, you're right," she slipped on her robe. "We have that trip to the city today. Lisa and Frank must be excited."

"Wait what?"

"Don't you remember? You promised us that you'll take us to Central Park for a picnic together. I spent all afternoon yesterday making sandwiches and lemonade."

"Of course I remember, how could I forget." I was frozen in shock and worked hard to maintain a facade of happiness.

"Don't take too long. I'm making eggs and bacon for breakfast." She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. The sweet caress of her soft lips sent chills through my body and I was floating in the air for a moment. I felt like I was caught in a blizzard and I had to force my stiff broken body to walk through it instead of falling back into the soft cool snow, because if I didn't I would die.

Whoever put me here was toying with my mind. They wanted to torture me, not physically but emotionally and they were good at it. Every part of me wanted to give in and relive my life with my family and save them, but I had to remind myself that this wasn't real and regardless I wasn't worthy to return to this life. I have killed too many men and committed too many sins. I am cannot feel happiness or releaf anymore. There is no turning back from what I have done. I am the Punisher and I could never be Frank Castiglione again.

Maria left the bedroom and I walked to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror I could see the truth again. My body was battled and bruised. There were scars on my leg from deep cuts, bite marks on my shoulder, burns on my chest, and claw marks all over my body. There was evidence that the nightmare of Vietnam was real and that someone is controlling this world to manipulate me. However everything was healing and nothing was sore or aching. They looked like they happened weeks ago, but I recall being in Vietnam only a few hours ago. How long was I asleep.

I left the bathroom without taking a shower and went to the closest to dress myself. As I entered I found a gift wrapped box on the ground. Inside I found a pink heart covered diary that I bought as a present for my daughter's birthday. Since her next birthday was never going to come. I decided to put it to good use to record my thoughts and keep track of everything as my new Punisher War Journal.

Also in the closest was my gun safe. Back then I only kept two colt .45 pistols and a Winchester rifle, it was nothing compared to arsenal that I would later collect. I knew that I would need the weapons for whatever may come later. They weren't much, but they would give me a fighting chance against any threat that may emerge.

Spinning the combination lock around I could hear footsteps coming up behind me, but I didn't care about them as I continued to unlock the safe.

"Frank, what are you doing?" I turned around and saw Maria standing at the entrance of the closest.

"I was just getting a gun." I replied.

"What for? We're just going to the park. This is New York not Vietnam." she was completely ignorant of her future.

I ignored her comments and continued to spin the lock. Maria grabbed my hand and stopped me and said, "Your family needs you to be a parent not a soldier. I know it'll take time for you to recover from the time you spent in Vietnam, but you need to leave that behind you and move forward. You've already started seeing a support group, you mustn't start moving back like this."

I couldn't bear to listen to her, so I grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her away from the locker.

"You don't understand, I'm already gone and I can't come back. I'm not the same person that you married. I can't be a parent to the kids. I can't live like this. I can't do any of this anymore," I felt angry and my voice was becoming loud. I felt like yelling at her, but I couldn't bring myself to.

"Frank,I love you. Whatever you are going through, we can go through this together," she pleaded with me. "I'm here for you. You just need to open up to me instead of pushing me away."

"No, you don't understand-"

"I don't understand? No, it's you who doesn't understand. I already lost you for four years. I won't lose you again. You're coming down stairs and you're going to eat your breakfast then you're going to take you family to the park for a picnic and you're going to forget all about guns and that war and you're going to remember what it's like to be a parent again and what's it like to be normal again."

"Okay, I'm sorry, no more guns," I lied to her. "Give me a few minutes to get dressed and I'll join you and kids for breakfast."

I hugged her again and after she left I returned to the safe.

I couldn't argue with her. I tried to remind myself that she was fake. There was no point to me to try to change her mind. I thought that I should take the guns and kill her myself and leave, but I couldn't do it. She looked and sounded just like my wife. She may just as well have been the same person, but I couldn't tell. Regardless when we go to the park today she and our kids will die. I couldn't let them live. Letting them die today will be mercy, sparing them the pain and turmoil of learning about how I have betrayed them and become a serial murderer.

The next few hours were extremely difficult for me to get through. As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs both of my kids ran up to me and fought for my attention. I didn't acknowledge them. I refused to speak to them or look at them. No matter how much they yelled at me or jumped up in front of me. I continued to pretend that they weren't there. My daughter Lisa showed me an art project she made with construction paper and hard macroni in preschool. My son Frank Jr. couldn't wait to go to the park and was already running around the house trying to fly his kite. It was painful to see them, I had to block them out and tried not to think of them. I forced myself to be a living corpse and automatically go through the motions. Eating breakfast, loading up the car, and driving to the city were all a haze. I was not conscious of my actions I let my body move on it's own and didn't think of anything.

Arriving at the park my mind had become completely numb. I felt like the world was on fire and I was walking through the thick smoke.

My kids tried to run ahead of me towards our picnic spot, but I kept the lead with a white knuckle grip on the picnic basket.

As we walked through the park we were welcomed by a red haired balloon salesman. He was rather overdressed to be selling balloons, but he looked comfortable in his full white tuxedo with a large red and yellow polka dot bow tie.

"What did the balloon say to the doctor?" joked the Salesman. "I'm feeling lightheaded!"

My son burst out in laughter as he ran to the man. I reached out my hand to stop him, but like a race horse he ran past me to the balloons.

"Hello, little boy, what's your name?" asked the Salesman.

"I'm Frank! Can I please have a balloon!" he replied with unbridled enthusiasm.

"Here you go," he leaned over to tie the string from a red balloon to my son's wrist.

"Thanks, what do I owe you?" I approached the Salesman and reached for my wallet.

"No charge my good man," he said. "Just answer this question for me. What music makes a balloon the most scared?"

"Pop music," I answered.

"Wrong, taps!" he laughed uncontrollably as we walked away.

Despite having a very unsightly laugh there was something strangely familiar about him. I knew I had seen him before, but not here. Perhaps if I hadn't been focusing my mind on being numb, I could have placed his face.

Regardless my family and I continued to walk on to the place of our demise. The area was a small grassy spot surrounded by trees and bushes. They were lush with green leaves that had just started to grow in the early spring sun. The air was crisp and not too chill. It was the perfect day for a picnic.

Maria unfolded a blanket and set it down on the grass and I began to unpack the picnic basket setting the food and toys down on top of the blanket.

"Daddy can we go play?" Asked Frank Jr.

"Yes, son," I took a frisbee out of the basket and handed it to him. "Why don't you and your sister toss this around."

"Don't go further than I can see you!" Maria yelled at them as they ran off.

As the kids began throwing the frisbee back and forth I watched them from the peripheral of my eyes knowing that Lisa would eventually throw it too hard sending it over the head of Frank Jr. into the bushes where they will run through, only to find two mobsters cutting up a snitch.

I paused unpacking the picnic basket and turned to my wife to talk to her for one last time.

"Maria, I need to tell you something," My voice shook as I began to speak.

"There's something I need to tell you too," I knew what she was going to say next, I have replayed her words countless times in my head since I lost her. I wanted to stop her, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I needed to hear her say the words one last time.

"Frank, you know I love you right? And I will always be there for you. I know it must be tough for you, now more than ever. It must have always been difficult for you to understand yourself and trying to find the answers. With how your father treated you and how he forced you to work in the factory, to when you started to study to be a priest, but ultimately looking to the military for the answers, to only be given more questions and confusion. Now it's only going to get worse, as you adapt to society and raise our kids. I know you have a lot of things going on in your head and I can't… I can't answer or solve all of it, but I will stay with you regardless. I knew this when I married you. I knew that you were going to need help and I was going to be the one to help you and I will always be the one. All that you need to do is open up and talk to me. Do you understand me Frank? Just talk to me, because I love you."

"Maria, I…" I struggled to get the words out as tears began to form at my eyes. "Maria, I love you. I know I can talk to you, but the words aren't easy…"

Then as I said it, Frank Jr. ran into the bushes. Followed by Lisa. They screamed together. Maria turned her eyes away from me to the bushes. A red balloon rose up from the tree line.

Continuing to scream Frank Jr. and Lisa came running back to us. I grabbed my wife and pulled her close. Holding her tight, I made sure to turn her head away so that she couldn't see her kids. I closed my eyes tight and the gunshots began.

…

…

…

I kept my eyes closed as long as I could as everything became silent. The gunshots and screams ended. I continued to hold Maria in my arms as she became limp and as her blood made my clothes soaking wet. I held my eyes close and let myself get lost in the dark empty void. I felt at peace there in dark empty space and wanted to spend the rest of my time there. Regardless I knew that eventually I would have to open my eyes and see my dead family shot to pieces lying all around me. With them all dead I questioned what was going to happen next. Were they going to come to life and attack me? Like before with the soldiers in Vietnam. Was I going to have to continue to relive my life? Or was I going to finally going to join them in the afterlife?

Everything was silent and still for a while, but then I heard a rustling. At first I thought it was the wind, but I didn't feel it on my skin. I heard it again and could tell it was the tree branches moving. I thought it could be the mobsters moving through the bushes, but I didn't hear footsteps or any other noises. The noises became closer and more constant.

 _Open your eyes Punisher. Open them._

Forcing myself to open my eyes I saw what I knew what was there. My family was lying dead, unmoving, covered in blood, and riddled with bullets. Slowly I looked up to see the source of the noise and movement. I was expecting to see mobsters with guns pointed at me, but instead all I saw where trees. However they weren't normal trees, they had become uprooted and were slowly walking on their own swinging their branches around. Instinctively I pulled the handgun out of my waistband and loaded the magazine into it. The trees continued to come closer to me as I aimed the gun at them, but I didn't pull the trigger. They didn't show any sign of fear of being shot and I didn't know if bullets would have any effect on the trees. With only seven bullets in the magazine I needed to conserve ammo.

 _Don't fight it. It won't work._

Reaching for the picnic basket I decided to try a different tactic. I thought that maybe I could test if these wooden masses felt pain by using knives or forks. As I moved the lid to open the basket a clown's head on a spring burst forth and startled me. Whoever had been toying with me must have had a laugh about that. I grabbed the jack-n-box basket and threw it at one of the trees, it broke apart into hundreds of pieces as it hit.

I figured at the moment my best option was to run away. Maybe if I could get far enough away I could take a break to make a plan and figure out what was going on, but as I stood up the blanket slid out from under me. It moved out as if on It's own and I fell backwards on my ass. I wasn't seeing humor these childish jokes and I was becoming angry with an itchy trigger finger.

Out from above the trees arose two red balloons. They floated towards me at a faster speed than the walking trees. As they came closer they became larger like rubbery orbs of doom. Not knowing what they would do if they reached me I shot at them. Like a normal balloon with a pop they burst apart and disappeared. One of the bullets flew into a tree after popping a balloon. As it hit the tree stumbled backwards and withered in pain. It was satisfying to know that I could hurt them, but with only five bullets left still needed a plan.

 _You can't escape. You're trapped and there's no place to hide._

Running as fast as I could more and more trees came to life and stalked me. From their branches many more balloons came after me. I constantly changed direction and tried to find an area without trees so that I could catch my breath, but there were no pavement, buildings, or baseball diamonds. There weren't even anymore people to be seen. It felt like the park went on forever. I couldn't even see the skyscraper buildings of Manhattan. I couldn't tell if I was in New York anymore or even Central Park.

After what felt like an hour of running through the park, I was out of breath and my legs ached. However I felt relief as I finally found something that could help me. Not far away was a construction site. There was two caterpillar tractors next to a large hole and a pile of dug up dirt. As I climbed into a tractor I felt a surge of exhilaration as I finally have something that I could use as instrument of death against the sentient trees. The controls looked fairly modern and were more advanced than they would have been for the seventies. However it didn't take me long to learn which leavers to use to move the back hoe around and lift up the front loader.

Lifting up the front loader I was able to drive it into the trees breaking them into splinters. They made loud noises of cracking and breaking that sounded like they were screaming if trees could scream. Many of the trees had a long reach with their branches and grabbed at me as I drove into them, but the cage around the driver seat protected me. Still a few whipped me in my face causing my skin to sting with each hit until I drove over them and killed them. A giant balloon floated towards me and tried to knock me out of the driver seat. The red orb pressed on me and tried to shove me out, fortunately my seat belt kept me in place. I tried pushing it away, but it only floated a few feet away only to float back to push on me more. I looked around the cabin and didn't find anything in the tractor to fight off the balloon, so I had to resort to using one the few bullets I had left in my gun. With a loud bang that left my ears ringing the balloon popped.

Returning to driving over the trees, they continued to fight back and the sharp part of the front loader scoop was becoming dull. Not all of the trees were breaking apart and I had to drive over them with the slow moving tractor.

Off in the distance I could see what could have been the end of the park. It looked like a large stone wall or a mountain. As I came closer I could see that it was a flat side of a cliff like I was inside of a quarry. It was at least a hundred feet tall and flat as concrete with no foot holes to be seen.

Still I continued to drive towards it at a snail like pace with the trees holding me back. The branches grew like vines. They whipped at me and wrapped around my arms. I flexed my arms and fought back breaking the branches. However some trees shoved their branches into the engine and around the wheels. Like a mechanical behemoth the tractor continued on. With an unwillingness to give up, the engine roared and black smoke produced from the exhaust. I was pushing it to it's limit with not much more left to give.

More balloons floated towards me and tried to knock me out. I didn't want to waste another bullet on them so I gritted my teeth and let them press on me as I continued towards edge of the park. However from the trees another threat emerged. Tiny squirrels leapt out of the branches into the tractor cabin. They bit at me with razor sharp teeth. Tearing skin off of my flesh. I swatted them away, but more and more came pouncing on me. They mainly attacked my hands trying to get me to give up the controls. They weren't trying to kill me, but stopping me in defense of the trees. Like a game of whack-a-mole I stomped my boots and slammed my fists on the heads of the squirrels. I used my bloody torn apart hands to beat the critters to mush.

However it was useless as with a groan and putter the tractor gave up and came to a stop with in a dozen feet from the edge of the park. Jumping out of the driver seat I left the tractor taking off running. I moved fast to dodge the trees and their deadly branches. Once I was at the edge of the park I pulled out my gun and fired two shots at the gas tank of the tractor. It exploded in a large mushroom cloud of fire and smoke. Many of the trees, balloons, and squirrels disintegrated in the blast and the others quickly caught on fire. This gave me a moment to catch my breath and regroup.

Looking up at the stone wall I could hear sounds of distant people talking and yelling, cars driving by and horns honking. It was the sounds of New York. It was as if Central Park had sunken down far below Manhattan Island. How could this happened, was this the work of Mole Man, but I don't recall what I could have done to pissed him off and that wouldn't explain what I was being forced to relive my family's murders.

Examining the stone wall I could not see anyway to climb up it, no cracks or gaps. However none of that would help with my bloody sore hands. Regardless I walked along the stone wall looking for a way out of this hole.

Cautiously I looked back at the park and watched the many trees that were untouched by the explosion. They remained still and acted like good trees should. They no longer posed a threat however I remained suspicious. I expected them to attack me if I ever showed any sign of distraction or unguardness. I also noticed that the park was still empty not a single human soul could be seen, not even the balloon salesman.

After walking for quite some time I reached a gap in the wall. I felt relieved to see it, it looked like a small alleyway that could lead me to an exit. That relief was however cut short as I rounded the corner and entered the gap only to find a dead end and a tombstone. The alleyway was only a dozen feet long and contained a six feet deep hole that was the shape of coffin and a tombstone that read Frank Castiglione Sr., Maria Castiglione, Lisa Castiglione, Frank Castiglione Jr. and our life spans. Clenching my fists I felt anger boiling up in me. I've had it with these pranks and games.

The demons must have thought that I was distracted and I had let my guard down, because behind me I could hear something sneaking up on me. It wasn't very settle with it's rumbling engine and the crunching gravel under it's heavy tires. Turning around I saw the tractor that I had blown up moving on it's own without a driver. It came at me with the backhoe first which it swung at me knocking me back into the dug up grave. I fell six feet deep. For a second I wonder where it would take me next. Which place, which moment in time. Regardless it didn't matter I was through with these games I didn't want to play anymore. I refused to enter another arena only to be gawked at like some gladiator.

The backhoe grabbed mounds of dirt and dumped them on me. I grabbed at the edges of the hole and struggled to climb up. More dirt was dumped on my face making it hard for me to see and breath as the dirt went into my eyes and mouth. Using my torn up hands I pushed on and climbed higher and higher. However more and more dirt was dumped on me and I couldn't see where I was going.

Once I reached the top of the hole, I coughed up the dirt and whipped it away from my eyes. I could feel the hot summer sun beaming down on me and hear the birds singing around me. Finally focusing my eyes and looking around I saw that I was no longer facing a tractor or was in Central Park. I was in a different park on top of a high hill. From this hill I had a great view of the small town around me. I saw many familiar places. The church that I worshipped in. The factory that I worked in. The school that I studied in. And the house that I lived in with my family. This was the place where it all started, my hometown. Fuck this place.

To be continued…

Chapter 6.5 Meanwhile Back In Manhattan Part 2

Knocking on the dorm room of Sam Exmore, Bryn knew that it was going to be a long shot if he could help them, but if any college student knew what was going on in this town it would be Sam. After knocking twice, they didn't get an answer, but they could hear muffled voices coming from the other side. They weren't loud, but the walls were paper thin so it was easy to tell that there was at least two people in the dorm. Bryn was determined to get answers so they knocked again. Like before they heard muffled voices then silence for fifteen seconds.

"Come on Sam, I know you're in there. I can hear you talking to someone." Bryn yelled as they knocked again.

The muffled voices became louder, but Bryn still couldn't understand them. It sounded like an argument. Then finally the door opened a few inches with a chain catch lock.

"Oh, hey Bryn," answering the door wasn't Sam, but his partner in journalism Toni Harris. "Are you alone? You're not here with Maylene or anyone else are you?"

"What? No," the odd question caught Bryn off guard and they found themselves perplexed. "Why did you think I would be here with May? We're not even that close. Hell, I haven't heard from her in months."

Toni turned away and spoke in the other direction. "It's Bryn and they don't know about Maylene. I'm going to let them in."

"No, don't! Fuck, what are you doing! Stop! Damn it! Shit!" Bryn could hear Sam yell from the inside the dorm as Toni closes the door and unhook the chain lock. Then immediately open it again.

"Come on in," Toni motioned for them to enter the dorm room. Inside Sam was sitting on a office chair next to his desk looking distraught with his hands on his face.

"What was that you said about Maylene?" Bryn asked Toni. She started to say something, but was quickly interrupted.

"Nevermind that! Why did you let them in?" He slowly looked up with heavy bags under his eyes.

"Sorry, to disturb you Sam, but I need your help. It's very important," Bryn said.

"Can't you see that I'm busy here. The police just had another press conference and I need to write it up and send it to the Daily Bugle with in ten minutes!"

"I'm sorry he's been like this for the last month," said Toni with her arms crossed as she rolled her eyes.

"Where's my vape pen?!" Sam spun around in his chair and frantically searched through the mess of papers and empty Red Bull cans on his desk. "I need to vape! Where is it!"

"Sam, forget it! You're not supposed to vape in the dorms anyway," Toni hollered back at him.

"Shit, I probably left it at the Daily Bugle again. J. Jonah is probably enjoying my vape right now. Damn it!"

"What you're guys working on looks important and all, but I really need your help," Bryn said.

"What are you still doing here? I told you before I'm just freelance reporter for the Daily Bugle now, I can't get you a column there," Sam roughly ran his fingers through his hair. "Toni get them to leave!"'

"No, the article can wait. You're stressing out too much," said Toni before turning back to Bryn. "What is it? What do you need?"

"Do you two know anything about Silly Blood?" Bryn asked.

Sam immediately sat up straight. "What did you say?"

His voice was more calm, but he was still speaking at a hasty speed.

"Silly Blood?" Bryn repeated.

"Toni, lock the door and search them."

Toni followed the orders and locked the door knob lock and deadbolt lock, then began frisking Bryn. Starting by patting the legs of their pants.

"Hey, what's going on?" Bryn asked feeling even more perplexed. "I don't have anything on me."

"Just go along with it," Toni said as she patted their back and shirt sleeves.

After finishing they turned to Sam and said, "They're clean."

Sam stood up and walked closer. "Take off your shirt."

"What? No!" Bryn was offended by the request.

"We need to know that you're not wearing a wire," Toni said with a heavy sigh. "Just do it and we'll tell what we know."

Bryn undid their bow tie and unbuttoned their shirt revealing the binder that they wore underneath.

"Take off the binder too," said Sam.

"Sam, what the hell?" Toni snapped back.

"No, I'm not taking it off! This is enough!" Bryn was even more offended as they buttoned their shirt back up.

"What is wrong with you?" Toni snapped again.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure they're not wearing a microphone that's all," Sam argued back.

"Well fuck you, but microphone or not, I'm not leaving here until you tell me what you know about Silly Blood," Bryn tied their bow tie back up and stood confidently.

"Fine, fine, have it your way," Sam sat back down at his computer and started opening and clicking on programs with his mouse. "Have you heard the latest Pray For Abortion album?"

"No, I'm not a-" Bryn started to say, but was quickly interrupted by loud rock music. The sounds of heavy metal electric guitars and drums flooded the room making it impossible for Bryn to hear themself talk. They covered their ears to try to protect their hearing and yelled as loud as they could to tell Sam to turn if off, but he pretend not to hear them. Instead Sam grabbed a note pad off his desk, wrote something on it, got up and handed it to Bryn.

On the note pad he wrote:

 _I can't let anyone listen in on this conversation. How did you hear about Silly Blood?_

Bryn took the notepad from Sam and wrote down their response:

 _I gave a ride to two men who turned out to be drug dealers. They gave the drugs to a kid so I beat them up and took the bag of drugs from the kid, but as soon as I did a cop arrested me and took the drugs._

Taking the note pad back Sam read over what Bryn had written, ripped off the page, crumpled it up and ate it. After swallowing down the paper he wrote more on the notepad.

 _I've been investigating the drug Silly Blood for the last six months. All I know is that it is a powerful hallucinogenic that they are trying to sell to kids for some reason. I've narrowed down the location of the drug lab to two possible locations, but the Punisher blew one of them up a few months ago since then the other two have become super well guarded._

Bryn wrote back:

 _Have you talked to the police about this?_

Swallowing down that last page Sam wrote back:

 _I was about to, but they've been acting super sketchy ever since the Punisher died and Spider-Man won't return my calls anymore._

A loud knock came from the door and over the music they heard someone yelling, "Hey, turn that shit down or I'll call campus security!"

 _Take me there!_ Bryn quickly jotted down.

Sam turned the music off and said, "Help me find my vape pen and then we can leave."

"You have to be kidding me, this can't be the place," said Bryn as they drove up to were Sam said where the drug lab was.

"No joke, that is the place," replied Sam before inhaling on his vape pen.

"seriously a Wacky Tacky?" said Bryn.

"Oh I love these places," commented Toni. "They let you dress up in silly clothes and play around in ball pits, jump on trampolines, and slide down slides."

Sam and Bryn both stared at Toni feeling baffled.

"I take my nephew to the one in the Bronx whenever my sister is off on a business trip," explained Toni.

"Yeah, but this one is a front," said Sam as he exhale a large ploom of smoke. "See that sign that says 'closer for remodeling'. It's been up for the last four months. Something for sure is going on in there."

"Well we're not going to find anything out if we continue to sit here," Bryn opened the driver side door to get out.

"Wait, don't," Sam grabbed Bryn by their arm and pulled them back into the car. "You're going to get your ass caught if you go any closer."

He pointed one finger at a homeless man walking by the building, "You see that homeless man in the baggy jacket? Wait fifteen minutes and you will see him walk by again. I've staked out this place before and I know that they have at least five armed guards walking around this place all day."

"So what do we do? Just sit around and let this shit happen?" Asked Bryn.

"Well the police have been acting strange, like they're Minority Report arresting criminals before their crimes are reported in the papers, but for some reason they keep overlooking this place."  
"Maybe we can try getting a hold of Spider-man again?" suggested Toni. "or Ghost Rider."

"I can't believe you two," Bryn blurted out. "When the justice system fails you, you just pray for some spandex wearing jackass to solve your problems? No, we can do this."

"What has gotten into you?" Sam was baffled by Bryn. "You're not thinking things through. There's three of us and far too many of us. Besides they have guns. It'll be pointless for us to do anything."

"If history has ever taught me anything," Bryn opened the glove box and pulled out a taser. "It's that one person can make a difference."

With those parting words they exit the car and walk towards the Wacky Tacky.

For a minute Sam and Toni sat silently watching Bryn walking away not believing what had just happened. Then Sam turned to Toni and said, "Five minutes?"

"Nah, I think they could last ten," Toni replied.

Eight minutes later, Bryn woke up with a feeling of deja vu. Regaining concussions they felt like they were lying on a cloud, then they felt fuzzy all over as they heard yelling voices coming closer from a distance. A sharp pain in the back of their head prevented them from keeping focus. However like last time they found themselves in this position they could tell that they were tied to a chair in a large room only this time they felt their head sticky with blood, a massive amount of pain and heard the noise of machinery.

A large hand grabbed them by the chin and shook them around. It didn't help them much to regain focus, but they could start to understand the high pitch voice of a small man standing in front of them.

"I'm not sure which gender you are, but regardless, you've got some real big balls on you," spoke the man. Whoever he was, Bryn thought he must be the leader of this drug ring.

Struggling to ignore the head ache, Bryn looked up at the leader and slow regain their vision. He was short skinny purple clothed man with clown make up, purple hair, and rubber band like arms.

"What the fuck?" Bryn managed to spit the words out.

"Don't worry we didn't dose you with any silly blood, so you're not tripping balls right now," he explained. "The hideous form that you see before you is my actual body. Let me introduce myself, I'm Slapstick the living cartoon character and this is my funhouse drug lab. One of my steroid pumping associates found you snooping around outside and brought you to me after pummeling you in the back alley. Now tell me what brings an numbskull like you to a crack house like this?"

Bryn lifted their head and looked around to see themself surrounded by several muscular thugs. Beyond them was a fully equipped drug lab with half naked slaves mixing chemicals and packaging vials of silly blood. However the building still had some remnants of the Wacky Tacky with slides and ball pits.

Looking back a Slapstick Bryn coughed up some blood and said, "Thank you, for explaining all of that to me. Now go fuck yourself."

A large heavy fist striked Bryn across their face shaking a tooth loose.

"How long have they been in there?" asked Sam as he sat in the car with Toni watching the Wacky Tacky.

"It's been ten minutes," replied Toni.

"This is bad we should get out of here now," Sam slid over from the passenger seat into the driver seat of the car.

"What? no, we can't leave Bryn here. We need to do something," Toni protested.

"We can't do anything. If we go in there they'll beat us up too."

"They're our friend. We need to do something. There must be something that we can do. Remember, it's like they said we can't just wait around for a hero to save us."

Sam rubbed his forehead and let out a heavy sigh in frustration. "I just wanted to be a reporter... Okay, let's think of something."

"What if we start a fire?" suggested Toni. "Maybe that would get everyone to leave the building."

"No, that would be too dangerous. We need a way to safely break in there."

Trying hard to think of a plan Sam looked around and finally had a eureka moment as he saw a construction site nearby.

"That's it! That's how we save Bryn," Sam told Toni as he pointed at the construction site.

"I don't think that's a good idea. You and construction sites lead to bad results."

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember what happened with Zane Whelan?"

"That was a music video stage and I was high then. Besides I've been off weed for a year now and this is a great idea."

"I'm sorry if we're not hospitable to your liking, we don't get visitors very offend," said Slapstick as he paced back and forth in front of Bryn.

"Oh really? I thought that Wacky Tackys were all the rage with kids now days," joked Bryn with blood still dripping out of their mouth.

"Oh, you're a funny guy?" Slapstick stopped pacing around and approached them. "That's unfortunate, cause I'm a funny guy and we can't have two funny guys here. To put it in a different way, this town ain't big enough for the both of us. So I'm going to have to kill you."

Out from seemly thin air he pulled out a large hand gun and pointed it at Bryn's head.

"Whoa, I'm sorry, I'm not funny," Bryn's voice shook as they tried to back track their joke. "I didn't hear you laugh, nor did your men laugh. I was just making an observation, I didn't mean to offend you."

"Oh, you didn't offend me, but I'm going to offFACE you!" Slapstick stopped, lowered his gun, and scratched his chin with it. "That sounded better in my head. Wait I can come up with something better than that… How about next time you want to make a joke without offending me, you give a-"

With a loud rumble one of the walls shook and broke apart. Out from it burst a large fast moving dump truck. It drove over Slapstick and crashed into a large stack of wooden crates holding syringes full of Silly Blood. Like bubble gum he was flatten out with tire tracks on his back.

Quickly moving into action the thugs pulled out their guns and pointed them at the dump truck as Sam and Toni exited out of it.

"Oh shit, we're screwed," exclaimed Sam as he and Toni both froze in place and raised their hands hoping that they won't be shot.

"So much for vape induced idea," said Toni.

"Wait, hold on," Slapstick crawled out from under the dump truck as his body reformed itself. Mending bones back together and moving muscle mash around. "No one shoot. I'm going to take care of this."

With a crinkled and broken up hand he grabbed several syringes of Silly Blood from a crate. With his teeth he removed the plastic caps off the syringes before stabbing himself in the arm with them injecting himself with a dozen ounces of Silly Blood. His body quickly became enlarged. Like the Hulk he grew to Ten feet tall with large bulging muscles, sharp fang like teeth, and claws.

"The gloves are off kiddos. No more mister nice clown," roared Slapstick.

To Be Continued...


End file.
